Innovative Approaches to Address Disparities in Health & Housing

Home energy efficiency improvements can lead to benefits beyond energy savings, including making homes healthier. Multiple stakeholders are exploring ways to address social determinants of health (SDOH). This session will share lessons learned from two different types of initiatives. Slipstream will discuss engaging directly with healthcare providers in the Midwest to explore ways to integrate health and energy efficiency services. Understanding community health priorities, healthcare driven research and pilots, and effective ways to engage with healthcare stakeholders to address community needs are key steps to engage healthcare in exploring collaborative initiatives to support low income families. CLEAResult will discuss their 2021 Healthier Homes program for income-qualified Consumers Energy customers in Flint, Michigan. The program focused on residents with qualifying respiratory issues and supplemented typical whole-home retrofit energy efficiency measures with an array of extra measures aimed at reducing indoor environmental triggers. With just under 100 homes treated in 2021, we’ll discuss measure installation and pricing, real-world lessons of engaging with healthcare and one of our biggest takeaways – how to keep putting the customer first.