Providing Safe Homes for New Moms

Providing Safe Homes for New Moms

For the first time in years, Sky says she feels safe and peaceful with her children.

Shortly before giving birth to her third child this summer, Sky and her children moved into a furnished apartment through a partnership between Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois and the South Suburban Women's Health Initiative. The nonprofit works with health care providers to identify pregnant mothers in need of housing and move them to apartments in Homewood, Illinois, to ensure they have a safe place to go after leaving the hospital.

Before moving, Sky, a BCBSIL Medicaid member, says she and her children, ages 3 and 4, lived with relatives in an abusive environment. She found out about the housing program during a prenatal visit and jumped at the opportunity.

"This was everything I dreamed of for my kids," says Sky, 26. "I was homeless a few different times. We slept in cars and hotels. It brings me tears to know I'm safe."

The initiative is among the ways BCBSIL is trying to improve the lives of more than 87,000 Medicaid members whose challenges with non-medical issues such as lack of housing can lead to poorer health outcomes. BCBSIL plans to invest $12 million over five years in Illinois organizations addressing housing insecurity.

BCBSIL member health assessments have shown lack of stable housing contribute to chronic medical conditions and make them harder to manage. More than 30,000 members have said they need a place to live.

"We have to acknowledge these really big barriers and blockers to care," says Tiffany Davis, executive director for population health and vendor management at BCBSIL. "When we get a member housed, we see the downtick of emergency room care, and we see the uptake of preventive care. We want to see our members self-managing and navigating and getting access to the services they need."

People who have experienced homelessness have disproportionately high physical and mental health needs and face greater social and economic challenges, according to the health policy nonprofit KFF.

In Illinois, almost 5% of mothers reported being unhoused in the 12 months before delivery in 2020, according to a 2024 report by the Center for Research on Women and Gender at the University of Illinois Chicago College of Medicine. Nearly half of women ages 18 to 25 who experience homelessness are pregnant or parenting. Pregnancy also can increase a woman's risk of becoming homeless.

"We see that pregnant women and postpartum women are really at that highest risk in terms of their vulnerability to poor outcomes," including increased risk of death for them and their children, says Dr. Angela Moemeka, chief medical officer of government programs at BCBSIL. "We want to make sure that we're stepping in at the right moment to support these women and their families."

To qualify for the initiative with South Suburban Women's Health Initiative, BCBSIL care managers help pregnant members complete housing and health assessments. Additionally, they schedule doctor's appointments, make transportation arrangements, offer daycare referrals and provide baby-care items like strollers to help set up members for success after they give birth.

"It's such a fragile time in a mother's life - and a baby's life," says BCBSIL Care Management Specialist Natalie Galarza, who checks on Sky at least once a month. "The absolute basics make such a big difference."

Making a difference in families' lives

On a Friday morning, volunteers gathered at a Homewood complex, unloaded a truck filled with household items and furnished an apartment for Shanericka, a BCBSIL Medicaid member, while she was at a hospital giving birth to her son. In less than five hours, the volunteers transformed the empty, two-bedroom apartment into an immaculately decorated home, as if it was to be featured in an HGTV renovation show.

The apartment had been empty before Shanericka went to the hospital. After discharge days later, Shanericka, her baby and her 16-year-old daughter returned home, stunned by the transformation of her new apartment and the prospects for her life and those of her children.

"I get to make my peace, my serenity, and I get to set that for my kids," she says. "I get to sit back and get a clear vision of who I want to be and what I need to focus on and who I can become now, because a majority of the weight is lifted."