DeWine announces funding for housing assistance program aimed at improving birth outcomes

Gov. Mike DeWine announced this week that $2.5 million is going to the Coalition of Homelessness and Housing in Ohio “to help improve birth outcomes and reduce infant mortality by providing stable housing for low-income families” (Source: “Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announces $2.5 million for program to help pregnant women, improve birth outcomes,” WKYC-TV (Cleveland), April 6).
 
Gov. DeWine’s office said the Housing Assistance to Improve Birth and Child Outcomes Program will assess the impact of rental assistance on factors that contribute to infant mortality. The project aims to increase housing stability of low-income households with children while improving maternal and infant health outcomes.
 
The program is an expansion of Healthy Beginnings at Home (HBAH), a housing stabilization pilot project designed to improve maternal and infant health outcomes for low-income families that launched in 2017 with funding from the Ohio Housing Finance Agency. That program, which provided 49 pregnant women in Columbus with rental assistance and other services, was implemented by CelebrateOne, a Columbus-based infant mortality prevention collaborative.
 
CelebrateOne contracted with HPIO to complete a final report summarizing the outcome and process evaluation results of HBAH.