Housing is a Health Issue Creating Holistic Well-Being and Solving Housing Instability in the Black Community *food provided*

Creating Holistic Well-Being and Solving Housing Instability in the Black Community

A Symposium for Problem-Solvers

Health Affects Housing

Our world is far more interrelated than most people believe. It is a common American myth that as people we stand on “our own two feet” and “pick ourselves up by our own bootstraps.” In truth, we are a society of people who need relationships to survive, much less to thrive, and even the “rugged entrepreneur” gets assistance from society at every step of the way.

Similarly, we sometimes try to pretend that our health stands alone, and does not affect our relationships, or jobs, or our housing. We see a single symptom, and often don’t recognize that the real disease is a system.

It is commonly known that San Diego is in the middle of a housing crisis. What is often not said is that part of the reason for the housing crisis is actually insufficient and inappropriate health care and health practices.

Join us and our distinguished panel of community, government and industry experts as we explore the ways putting our health at risk puts housing at risk, and ways we can improve our housing by improving our health.

Housing Affects Health

You don’t have to have a long memory to know that housing affects health in extreme ways. Just remember the Hepatitis A outbreak in San Diego, which occurred because of the limited resources available to San Diego’s homeless population.
Going beyond the obvious, however, poor housing affects health in multiple ways, including:

– Reduced access to healthy foods
– Increased stress over housing
– Increased stress due to neighborhood conditions
– Concentrations of disadvantage
– Environmental injustice
– Excessive commutes resulting in inability to get sufficient rest and exercise
… and so many more

Let’s Get Practical

We have no magic solutions within our reach, and we do not expect our symposium to instantly solve problems that have been building in our society for many years.

Still, there are ways we can help. Together, let’s discuss how we can apply the principles and best practices our panelists bring to the table. We will break into smaller working groups, including some of our experts, and spend some time getting VERY local and VERY practical.

We will talk about how we can help individuals and communities in San Diego to improve their housing and their health. We will talk about strategies and tactics for getting our government at all levels to pay the proper level of attention to these issues.
We will leave this symposium with a practical list of next steps, and having built ties with one another that we expect to last into the future. Together, we can work toward secure housing and good health for our entire community.

Keynote Speaker:
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Omar Passons, MPH, Esq has a Master’s Degree in Public Health and evaluated public health and social service programs. Omar has spent the last decade working to stimulate and foster local businesses. As a land use attorney, he has also seen firsthand that progressive change on affordable housing and green building practices go hand-in- hand with creating jobs and boosting our economy.

Our panelists focusing on health will be:
• La’Toya Renea Garrett, LMFT, Anu Legacy Counseling Services, LLC
• Monica Hinton, PhD, President, Association of Black Psychologists – San Diego Chapter
• Samira Jones, PhD, MPH, RD California Department of Public Health, Licensing and Certification Division
• Angela de Joseph, CPT, SN, PES, Community Health Advocate
• Mary Tesfaldet, President, NAACP San Diego Youth Council

Our panelists focusing on housing will be:
• David Estrella, HHSA Housing and Community Development Services Director
• Shonda Herold, Project Manager, Wakeland Development
• Parisa Ijadi-Maghsoodi, Assistant Director of Public Service, USD School of Law
• Rev Richard Lawrence, Activist
• Kathryn Rhodes, Engineer & Activist