Centene partners on affordable housing
The goal of the multiyear partnership with MBS is to construct new affordable housing communities in eight states.
Photo: Franco Vogt/Getty Images
The Centene Foundation, Centene's philanthropic arm, is teaming with affordable housing developer McCormack Baron Salazar (MBS) on a multiyear partnership to construct new affordable housing communities in eight states.
Under the partnership, the foundation will provide below market-rate loans to support MBS' predevelopment design and planning work, leading to the construction of affordable housing in distressed and underserved communities.
The organizations anticipate the loans will enable about $900 million of direct construction-related activity, and will create thousands of affordable housing units in low-income communities.
The partnership is intended to address the critical lack of affordable housing – a key driver of health impacting many economically vulnerable populations.
WHAT'S THE IMPACT?
The availability of affordable housing is a key driver of health equity and positive health outcomes. But according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, there was a shortage of 7.3 million affordable homes in the U.S. in 2023. The lack of affordable housing is especially challenging for Medicaid beneficiaries, the coalition found.
Founded in 1973, MBS is a St. Louis-headquartered company that focuses on the health of communities through local engagement, timely access to healthcare and social services.
The opportunity to leverage predevelopment dollars is a key differentiator for both organizations, they said. MBS estimates that every dollar of support from the foundation will enable the former to obtain $30 or more of permanent financing from local, state and federal programs and private sources.
Informed by health and social needs, assessments, and community feedback, the projects will include first-floor commercial space for important health-related services such as Federally Qualified Health Centers, grocery stores, community gyms and other offerings that can be accessed by the local community.
Financial terms of the partnership were not disclosed.
THE LARGER TREND
Last week a Centene subsidiary, Sunshine Health, teamed with Medicaid value-based primary care company Cityblock to provide primary care and care-coordination services to high-need, hard-to-reach Medicaid members in 11 Central Florida counties.
The partnership, which began this month, includes wraparound services offered to members, 24/7, across modalities, allowing members the option to see their multidisciplinary care team virtually, in the home or at a local clinic.
In 2023 Centene logged $2.7 billion in profit and $154 billion in revenue, both year-over-year improvements – 2022 saw profits at just $1.2 billion and revenues at $143.2 billion.
CEO Sarah London said the performance was slightly ahead of the company's previous guidance, giving the company momentum heading into this year.
Jeff Lagasse is editor of Healthcare Finance News.
Email: jlagasse@himss.org
Healthcare Finance News is a HIMSS Media publication.
