All housing policy should be viewed through a health lens.

That is:

• Do the policies or strategies in question improve or harm individual, family and community health and well being?
• Do they acknowledge the critical importance of good, stable housing to health? Conversely, do they acknowledge the significant health-related costs of inadequate or unaffordable housing and displacement?
• Do they support the use of healthy building materials and/or remediation and upgrades?
• Do they acknowledge that for some people, housing services are only as good as the wrap-around services that are there to support them including mental health and addictions support, language and cultural supports, protection against violence, etc.?