When we talk about health care, most people picture doctors’ offices, hospital emergency rooms and pharmacy counters. But for thousands of people in our communities, the most powerful prescription isn’t a pill; it’s a safe place to sleep.
Atrium Health has spent years confronting a truth that far too many overlook: Housing is health care. Without the stability reliable housing brings, chronic conditions worsen, mental health can spiral and emergency rooms become the default safety net for receiving any kind of care. That’s why our commitment to affordable housing and expanded services for the unhoused isn’t charity. It’s a strategy to ensure the long-term health of our community.
This strategy began more than a decade ago and has grown into one of the most comprehensive health-and-housing efforts in the Southeast.
Innovating beyond walls
Health care shouldn’t wait for someone to walk through the door. It must meet them where they live or, in some cases, sleep. That’s why we have poured resources into critical programs like Health and Housing, which pairs medical care with permanent supportive housing for chronically unhoused individuals. Since the program launch in February 2023, 94% of participants have stayed housed and avoided emergency mental health crises — demonstrating how working with community partners can save lives and reduce costs.
We’ve invested $15 million to preserve naturally occurring affordable housing in recent years and launched the first-ever virtual health clinic inside a Charlotte apartment complex — Peppertree Apartments, in May 2023 — bringing care home to residents.
When home means a tent or a bridge, we go there too. In October 2025, Atrium Health and partners within the community introduced “Wellness Without Walls,” a street psychiatry pilot delivering behavioral health care directly to unhoused individuals.
Enabling opportunity
Connected to the planning and financing of The Pearl innovation district, we’ve linked economic growth to community benefit. Atrium Health voluntarily made a commitment to contribute an approximately 14-acre site on North Tryon Street for affordable housing. In June 2024, we placed a deed restriction on the land to ensure future use would be for this purpose and fulfilling the terms of the Tax Increment Grant financing agreement with the City of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County.
The city’s housing authority, Inlivian, owns the adjacent property and is expected to develop a combined 28-acre affordable housing community near the light rail.
The Pearl’s anchor tenants opened their doors in July 2025, as phase one of a multi-phase development over the next 10 or more years. The innovation district is expected to create 5,500 jobs, with more than 30% requiring no degree, ensuring opportunity reaches every corner of our community.
In addition, we’re in talks and working with a housing developer who plans to develop onsite housing at The Pearl site in future phases and intends to include 5% of its residential development for affordable units.
Driving policy and community leadership
Advocacy is part of care, and Atrium Health, part of Charlotte-based Advocate Health, has been a steady voice at the forefront of the need for affordable housing for years.
In April 2021, Advocate Health CEO Gene Woods co-chaired “A Home For All,” a community-led strategy to make homelessness rare, brief and non-recurring. That plan introduced 99 recommendations and a unified governance structure now driving significant investment in housing stability.
Woods also served on the North Carolina governor’s Andrea Harris Social, Economic, Environmental and Health Equity Task Force from 2020 to 2024, working to address long-standing disparities, including housing insecurity.
Strengthening support for our neighbors and our own
Hardship doesn’t stop at the hospital door. When the pandemic strained families, Atrium Health stepped in. In September 2020, we provided a $5 million loan to Roof Above, a local support agency for the unhoused, to protect 75 units of supportive housing at a local apartment complex and establish on-site support for its residents. We also secured 50 units for our own teammates facing housing insecurity.
To further support and strengthen our workforce, in 2021, we also launched the Housing Opportunity Promoting Equity (H.O.P.E.) program, offering affordable housing at sliding-scale rates for eligible teammates and their families.
Responding to the needs of the community
When the pandemic began in 2020, “stay at home” became the first line of defense, but what happened to those without a home? Atrium Health mobilized teams to shelters, provided testing and vaccinations, and expanded partnerships to keep people safe. We also formalized referral pathways to emergency rental assistance and homelessness prevention programs, helping families avoid eviction during a time of unprecedented financial strain.
In 2019, we made a bold and impactful pledge to invest $10 million in affordable housing initiatives over the next few years. Our $5 million donation to the Housing Impact Fund, in November 2020, has helped preserve and create thousands of affordable housing units. We made an additional $5 million donation to the fund in 2023. An announcement of an additional financial commitment to the fund is expected in early 2026.
A track record of engagement
Our commitment to helping our community goes back years. Throughout 2017, Atrium Health awarded more than $1 million in community health grants. A year later, we launched the Community Resource Hub to connect people to housing assistance and utility support. Since then, more than 7,000 people have been connected to housing resources, including nearly 4,000 patients.
More to do
From $15 million housing investments and virtual clinics to street psychiatry pilots and the inclusion of affordable housing in the most transformative economic development initiative in this region in decades — combined with civic and policy leadership to keep the issue at the forefront of discussion — Atrium Health has redefined what it means to care for the community. Every effort reflects a simple truth: Health begins at home. Every dollar spent on housing saves multiples in emergency care. Every family kept off the street strengthens the health of the entire community.
But health systems can’t do it alone. It is essential that policymakers, businesses, nonprofits and community leaders work in harmony to treat housing as a public health priority. The evidence is clear: When people have a safe place to live, they live longer, healthier lives. That’s a prescription we can all support.
To view a complete timeline of Atrium Health’s work on affordable housing, visit www.atriumhealth.org/affordablehousing.
