Cover Photo Caption: Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Health is investing in housing to help serve its patients across the Western United States, which faces a shortage of affordable housing.
In 2024, an analysis of federal data showed that Utah was the nation’s ninth most expensive statewide housing market, and housing prices increased by 651 percent from 1991 to 2024, the largest increase of any U.S. state during that period. Although housing prices have stabilized since 2022, housing across the state remains out of reach for many.
The effects of this crisis extend beyond the housing market and into other systems, including health care. In recent years, public health organizations have increasingly acknowledged the impact that housing can have on health. High housing costs drain residents’ resources for other basic needs such as health care and drive households into low-quality housing and unsafe or underinvested neighborhoods, leading to negative health outcomes.…