Permanent Housing for Formerly Homeless New Yorkers Reduces Emergency Room Visits, Hospital Admissions, and Medicaid Costs, New Study Finds

Permanent Housing for Formerly Homeless New Yorkers Reduces Emergency Room Visits, Hospital Admissions, and Medicaid Costs, New Study Finds

In a new study by NYC Health + Hospitals Housing for Health and MetroPlusHealth, patients experienced a 40% reduction in emergency department visits and a 36% reduction in inpatient hospital admissions in the two years following housing placement

Permanent housing placement generated nearly $17,000 in Medicaid savings per person over two years

In 2025, NYC Health + Hospitals provided care for over 61,000 adult patients experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity - more than any other health care system in New York City

In 2025, MetroPlusHealth provided health insurance coverage to over 19,000 adults and families experiencing homelessness

Nov 13, 2026

New York, NY - According to a new study released today by NYC Health + Hospitals' Housing for Health and MetroPlusHealth, permanent housing for people experiencing homelessness reduced emergency department visits, hospital admissions, and Medicaid costs. In the two years following housing placement, patients experienced a 40% reduction in emergency department visits and a 36% reduction in inpatient hospital admissions. In addition, the study found Medicaid savings of $17,000 per person in the two years after housing placement. In a cohort of over 250 individuals, this totaled $3.2 million in savings.

The study, Housing for Health: The Impact of Housing on Health Care Costs and Utilization for Unhoused Members, analyzed Medicaid claims data for a cohort of over 250 MetroPlusHealth members and NYC Health + Hospitals patients who were placed in housing through the partnership between NYC Health + Hospitals' Housing for Health and the MetroPlusHealth Housing Task Force. The analysis compared healthcare utilization and Medicaid spending before and after housing placement and included a high mortality control group to further validate the findings. The analysis was conducted by Wakely Consulting Group, an actuarial consulting firm and MetroPlusHealth partner.

"Permanent housing is the best prescription for a patient experiencing homelessness," said NYC Health + Hospitals President and CEO Mitchell Katz, MD. "Today's study proves what I've seen with my patients for years: when we help someone find housing, it becomes so much easier for them to manage their health. Simply put, housing makes our patients healthier. We hope that our partnership with MetroPlusHealth can serve as a replicable model for health care systems across the country seeking to better support patients experiencing homelessness."

"NYC Health + Hospitals has always understood the important role that housing plays in health outcomes, developing Housing for Health to provide tangible solutions to our patients' toughest challenges," said Leora Jontef, Senior Assistant Vice President of Housing and Real Estate at NYC Health + Hospitals. "We are thrilled to see the impacts of this initiative reflected in the results of today's study and will continue to pursue innovative ways to bring housing and services to our patients."

"NYC Health + Hospitals delivers essential care to the most vulnerable New Yorkers," said Ted Long, MD, MHS, Chief Medical Officer for Clinical Services and Population Health at NYC Health + Hospitals. "Housing for Health is a critical resource for our patients and the clinicians who see firsthand the lifechanging connection between a patient's health and where they live."

"The results of this study are striking and make a powerful case for addressing housing as a key driver of health," said Dr. Talya Schwartz, President and Chief Executive Officer of MetroPlusHealth. "These findings reinforce something we see every day: when people have stable housing, they're healthier. The fact that permanent housing was associated with nearly $17,000 in Medicaid savings per person over two years shows that it's not just the right thing to do, it's a smart investment in better health."

"Housing is healthcare," said Dr. Julie Myers, Deputy Chief Medical Officer of MetroPlusHealth. "This study shows the powerful impact stable housing can have on health outcomes, reducing avoidable emergency department visits and hospitalizations while helping individuals better manage their health. These results reinforce the importance of the partnership between NYC Health + Hospitals' Housing for Health and the MetroPlusHealth Housing Task Force, which addresses a fundamental driver of health and highlights that investments in housing can improve lives while lowering healthcare costs."

Key Findings from the Report include:

• Patients experienced a 40% reduction in emergency department visits in the two years following housing placement, from an average of 2.3 visits per year before being housed to 1.4 visits per year after being housed.
• Patients experienced a 36% reduction in inpatient hospital admissions in the two years following housing placement, spending an average of 5 fewer days in the hospital per year (from 10 days per year before being housed to 5 days per year after being housed).
• Permanent housing led to Medicaid savings of $17,000 per person in the first two years after being housed.
• Engagement in primary and specialty care increased, likely due to patients' ability to manage their ongoing and preventive care once housed. Similarly, Medicaid claims for pharmacy and ancillary services, including home health services, also increased.
• Findings from a matched control group analysis suggest that this pre/post-analysis was consistent with meaningful change in health care engagement following housing placement.

"This study confirms what we've long heard from New Yorkers: safe, stable housing is the foundation of good health," said HPD Commissioner Dina Levy. "This points to a clear path forward: to keep our neighbors healthy, we must build and preserve more supportive and affordable housing. We're proud to lead on that work at HPD, and we are grateful to NYC Health + Hospitals for highlighting this fundamental connection."

"This study provides powerful evidence that housing is healthcare," said Rachel Fee, Executive Director, New York Housing Conference. "The dramatic reductions in hospital visits and Medicaid costs demonstrate that stable housing is both a public health necessity and a smart public investment. These findings should be a wake-up call to policymakers to expand funding for affordable and supportive housing so that more New Yorkers can access the stability they need to thrive."

"Health care and housing stability are inexorably linked," said Kim Darga, Vice President and New York Market Leader, Enterprise Community Partners. "This fundamental reality is confirmed by this important and laudable study, showing that stable housing improves health outcomes and reduces strain on our hospital system. As a city, we must view solving the homelessness crisis in light of all the other resulting benefits to families. Let this report be more than a conversation starter; let it be a call to action. Congratulations to NYC Health + Hospitals and MetroPlusHealth on this announcement."

"This study confirms what we have long known to be true: housing and health care are inextricably linked," said Pascale Leone, Executive Director of Supportive Housing Network of NY. "Homelessness has a significant and wide-ranging impact on both physical and behavioral health and has been shown to dramatically reduce life expectancy. Providing unhoused New Yorkers with safe, stable, and deeply affordable housing connected to services like medication management and mental health counseling not only offers them dignity and opportunity, but a foundation for a healthier and longer life. And in the process, as this study demonstrates, health care costs can be reduced. Now more than ever we need to protect the health and wellbeing of at-risk individuals by investing in the supportive housing and services they need."

"We have long known that 'housing is healthcare," said Howard Slatkin, Executive Director of Citizens Housing and Planning Council, "and for people experiencing homelessness this is truer than for anyone. This latest research from NYC Health and Hospitals and MetroPlusHealth highlights not only the improved health outcomes produced by housing first strategies, but also the compelling fiscal logic of investing in permanent housing."

"The Health & Housing Consortium was created to address the intersection of homelessness, unmet health needs, and avoidable hospital utilization," said Bonnie Mohan, Co-Founder and Executive Director of The Health & Housing Consortium. "We have long known that housing and health outcomes are inextricably linked, and this research provides powerful evidence of that connection. We applaud NYC Health + Hospitals and MetroPlusHealth for demonstrating that housing is not only a human right, but a critical investment in better health outcomes, lower health care costs, and a healthier New York City."

"NYC Health + Hospitals and MetroPlusHealth have given New York hard evidence of what our members see every day: homelessness wears on people's health, and a stable home changes that," said Kristin Miller, Executive Director of Homeless Services United. "If New York wants fewer emergency room visits and lower Medicaid costs, the answer is helping more people move out of homelessness by investing in housing and in the nonprofit providers who make that possible."

NYC Health + Hospitals' Housing for Health recognizes that the chronic health issues of unhoused individuals cannot be treated without stable housing. In 2025, NYC Health + Hospitals provided care for over 61,000 adult patients experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity - more than any other healthcare system in New York City. Housing for Health's work focuses on four strategic areas: providing housing navigation services, operating medical respite beds, making hospital-owned land available for the development of affordable and supportive housing, and providing additional supports for patients in permanent housing. In May 2026, Mayor Zohran Mamdani included Housing for Health as part of the City's "Block by Block" strategic housing plan.

MetroPlusHealth, a wholly owned subsidiary of NYC Health + Hospitals, contracts under a value-based payment arrangement, a model that rewards high-quality care and better health outcomes and provides health insurance coverage to hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers. With over 19,000 MetroPlusHealth members known to the City's shelter system each year, the MetroPlusHealth Housing Task Force was developed to address the needs of their highest risk members experiencing homelessness. The MetroPlusHealth Housing Task Force's primary goal is to help stabilize these members, assist in finding appropriate housing placements, and provide ongoing care management to improve their overall health and well-being.

As part of the NYC Health + Hospitals and MetroPlusHealth partnership to better serve mutual patients experiencing homelessness, the MetroPlus Housing Taskforce works with Housing for Health to identify and refer MetroPlusHealth members for housing navigation and permanent housing opportunities. As of June 30, 2026, Housing for Health and the MetroPlus Housing Taskforce have jointly placed over 1,300 individuals into permanent housing.

###

MEDIA CONTACTS:
NYC Health + Hospitals: [email protected]
MetroPlusHealth: Michelle Dominguez, [email protected]

#261-26

About MetroPlusHealth
MetroPlusHealth is a wholly owned subsidiary of NYC Health + Hospitals. For more than 40 years, MetroPlusHealth has provided access to affordable, quality health care to the people of New York City. It is a leader in addressing social determinants of health and the only New York State plan to dedicate resources specifically to ensuring members have access to food, housing, and transportation. MetroPlusHealth serves more than 600,000 members across New York City and its impressive network includes more than 34,000 providers and more than 40 hospitals and urgent care centers, including NYC Health + Hospitals, NYU Langone, Mount Sinai, CityMD, Montefiore, LabCorp, Lenox Hill Radiology, Memorial Sloan Kettering, Hospital for Special Surgery, and more. For more information about MetroPlusHealth, please visit https://metroplus.org/.

About NYC Health + Hospitals
NYC Health + Hospitals is the largest municipal health care system in the nation serving more than a million New Yorkers annually in more than 70 patient care locations across the city's five boroughs. A robust network of outpatient, neighborhood-based primary and specialty care centers anchors care coordination with the system's trauma centers, nursing homes, post-acute care centers, home care agency, and MetroPlusHealth -all supported by 11 essential hospitals. Its diverse workforce of more than 46,000 employees is uniquely focused on empowering New Yorkers, without exception, to live the healthiest life possible. For more information, visit www.nychealthandhospitals.org and stay connected on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.