Kaiser Permanente is one of 14 hospital and health systems that pledged to invest $700 million over five years on place-based investing in their communities. | Shutterstock

The Healthcare Anchor Network believes better housing is a great investment in health and community wellness Tech giants?including Microsoft, Facebook, and Google?have recently pledged billions of dollars to solve the affordable housing crisis, creating large loan pools for developers in a bid to help solve a problem exacerbated by their rapid growth.
Last week, a different coalition of corporate and community leaders made a smaller but no less significant pledge. A group of 14 of the nation?s largest hospital and health systems pledged to invest $700 million over five years on place-based investing in their communities. The investment focuses mostly on affordable housing, but also addresses access to health foods, entrepreneurship among women and minorities, and expanding childcare access. Organized by the Healthcare Anchor Network (HAN), the new initiative seeks to inspire more health care systems?already important anchor institutions in nearly every community across the country?to leverage their employment, purchasing, and investment power to improve the health of their community.
By attacking the racial disparities in communities across the country?as well as the other root problems that influence health outcomes?with a holistic, long-term approach, the HAN hopes to ultimately improve loca...