美国国家公共电台 NPR--An Atlanta health care provider takes on the city's housing crisis

An Atlanta health care provider takes on the city's housing crisis

Transcript¹

Atlanta's Mercy Care plans to foot the bill for 10 apartments, with the idea that good health begins with a decent place to live. It's one of several health and hospital systems investing in housing.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Affordable² homes are in short supply in many parts of this country because unstable³ housing is often linked to poor health. Some large health care providers are investing in renovating⁴ or building new places to live. The goal is to improve health outcomes in communities. Georgia Public Broadcasting's Peter Biello reports.

(SOUNDBITE OF TRUCK BEEPING)

PETER BIELLO, BYLINE⁵: On a sunny day in Atlanta's Sweet Auburn neighborhood, a huge truck hauls dirt from a construction site. Kathryn Lawler is partially⁶ responsible for what's happening here. She's the CEO of Saint Joseph's Health System and Mercy Care, the safety net hospital around the corner.

KATHRYN LAWLER: This is the construction site of the future McAuley Station. It will be 170 units of affordable housing located right on McAuley Park.

BIELLO: Mercy Care has pledged to pay the rent on 10 of those apartments for people waiting for permanent affordable housing. There's no formal limit on how long tenants⁷ can stay, but Mercy Care expects an average stay of 90 days. Lawler says it's an effort to help people get healthy outside the hospital setting in their communities.

LAWLER: What makes people healthy starts first with the opportunities they have in their life and also with their ability to live in a safe, stable and affordable community.

BIELLO: She's describing a concept known as the social determinants of health. This is the idea that having access to healthy foods, a good education, clean air and affordable housing matter when it comes to overall health. Lawler says these apartments will help with that.

LAWLER: By doing this comprehensive approach to health, that's really where we chip away at long-term inequities that have manifested themselves in many communities but certainly in Atlanta, as well.

BIELLO: Mercy Care in Atlanta is not alone. In the last decade or so, several health care systems across the U.S. have made significant investments in affordable housing. Boston Medical Center has made no-interest loans to help developers create more than 1,300 units of affordable housing. Megan Sandel is Boston Medical's place-based investing lead. She says they've primarily served people who don't have stable housing.

MEGAN SANDEL: We have many patients that would keep coming back through the emergency department and hospital simply because they didn't have a place to take their insulin or to plug in their CPAP machine at night.

BIELLO: But with a stable place to live, she says those patients are less likely to use the ER for preventable ailments⁸. Connecting these patients to affordable housing could even save money. UPMC Health Plan in Pittsburgh has contributed to loan funds that help developers complete affordable housing projects. UPMC Health Plan's Kevin Progar says they compared the cost of patients' ER visits before and after placing them in affordable homes.

KEVIN PROGAR: Usually, varied⁹ somewhere between basically 5,000 and $10,000 a member per year and for - kind of avoided costs that we think we might have spent otherwise.

BIELLO: While UPMC Health Plan, Boston Medical and others often step away from their housing projects once they're completed, Mercy Care in Atlanta plans to stay involved. It'll raise funds to pay the rent. Jeffrey Brenner, a former UnitedHealthcare executive, says for long-term success, they need to use these units strategically.

JEFFREY BRENNER: If they don't target the units to people who are coming in and out of the hospital all the time, then they're not going to have an incentive¹⁰ to keep doing this.

BIELLO: Back in Atlanta, from the kitchen window of his two-bedroom apartment, Zach Eidex has watched workers prepare the ground for McAuley Station. He says he's worried about his rent increasing and what more low-income housing will do to the neighborhood.

ZACH EIDEX: Because I spoke¹¹ with someone who lived here 20 years ago, and it was low-income, and there was lots of crime. So I would be slightly worried that, you know, the tenants would be responsible.

BIELLO: Across the street, Brittany Briscoe walks her dog, a Chihuahua mix named Max. She's lived in this neighborhood for four years. She says she thinks McAuley Station can help.

BRITTANY BRISCOE: The only way that you can ever reach privilege is, like, you have to get out of poverty. So, yeah, it's going to create some whatever - transition woes¹². But, like, we are helping¹³ those people that are able to live there have access to privilege.

BIELLO: And that access, at least for some in this Atlanta neighborhood, will get a little bit easier in early 2024, when McAuley Station is scheduled to open.

For NPR News, I'm Peter Biello in Atlanta.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

3 unstable   

adj.不稳定的，易变的

参考例句：

• This bookcase is too unstable to hold so many books.这书橱很不结实，装不了这么多书。
• The patient's condition was unstable.那患者的病情不稳定。

4 renovating   

翻新，修复，整修( renovate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The increased production was largely attained by renovating old orchards and vineyards. 通过更新老果园和葡萄园，使生产大大增加。
• Renovating that house will cost you a pretty penny. 为了整修那所房子，你得花很多钱。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 partially   

adv.部分地，从某些方面讲

参考例句：

• The door was partially concealed by the drapes.门有一部分被门帘遮住了。
• The police managed to restore calm and the curfew was partially lifted.警方设法恢复了平静，宵禁部分解除。

7 tenants   

n.房客( tenant的名词复数 )；佃户；占用者；占有者

参考例句：

• A number of tenants have been evicted for not paying the rent. 许多房客因不付房租被赶了出来。
• Tenants are jointly and severally liable for payment of the rent. 租金由承租人共同且分别承担。

8 ailments   

疾病（尤指慢性病），不适( ailment的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His ailments include a mild heart attack and arthritis. 他患有轻度心脏病和关节炎。
• He hospitalizes patients for minor ailments. 他把只有小病的患者也送进医院。

9 varied   

adj.多样的，多变化的

参考例句：

• The forms of art are many and varied.艺术的形式是多种多样的。
• The hotel has a varied programme of nightly entertainment.宾馆有各种晚间娱乐活动。

10 incentive   

n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机

参考例句：

• Money is still a major incentive in most occupations.在许多职业中，钱仍是主要的鼓励因素。
• He hasn't much incentive to work hard.他没有努力工作的动机。

11 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

12 woes   

困境( woe的名词复数 )； 悲伤； 我好苦哇； 某人就要倒霉

参考例句：

• Thanks for listening to my woes. 谢谢您听我诉说不幸的遭遇。
• She has cried the blues about its financial woes. 对于经济的困难她叫苦不迭。

13 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。