If Kansas City had better health equity, we wouldn’t have to focus on rescuing anyone

Every week, I read articles about the eviction crisis in our region. Growing housing insecurity is not isolated to our region; nationwide it is the tip of the iceberg for economic inequity. Yet having a safe, stable roof over your head is inarguably essential for health. Recent data shows that eviction-led housing insecurity exacerbated the spread of COVID-19 in our communities: People living in non-affluent areas were at twice-greater risk for COVID-19 when eviction bans were allowed to expire.

This fall, Congress failed to pass a federal eviction moratorium that would have been critical protection against the spread of COVID-19. At the same time, our region was working at a feverish pace to distribute emergency rental assistance funds to people who need them, to the tune of $4.7 million in Kansas City alone. Even though housing insecurity is a dire community health issue, our systems are not designed nor equipped to stop these health injustices from happening.

An allegory illustrates this issue: If a bridge is broken and people are continuing to fall in the water, we should not be investing resources to save people once they’re in danger of drowning. We should fix the bridge to prevent people from falling in the first place.

This allegory applies to so much of our region’s work in health. In my 25 years as a health care provider, advocate and administrator, often serving resilient communities living in marginalized conditions, I’ve witnessed a narrow focus on health issues without adequate action on the social and political influencers that shape their health outcomes. Yet, there is undeniable evidence linking income, wealth and health, and that makes it clear that policies and practices promoting economic equity may have the broadest impact on health.

We must also name the other underlying factor causing the greatest gaps in poor health. Racism — not race — is the predominant social influencer of health for people of color and ultimately impacts us all. In the quest for health equity, antiracism and economic equity are interconnected. We got to this place by design, through systems that were meant to separate us, withhold and extract resources from our communities for the betterment of just a few. Our current moment signals a clarion call for a new social contract. One that, through design, redistributes power, money and resources.

I believe that our region can be a model by championing health equity through economic equity and racial justice. We can right our systems and remove barriers so that people are positioned to thrive — and not need to be rescued. We must shift our focus to the root causes of the problems that cause health injustices — such as finding safe, attainable and stable housing; having affordable, high-quality, culturally relevant health care; and actively driving antiracist policies and practices in every sphere.

This perspective influences how we at Health Forward Foundation operate as a philanthropic partner in community health, and will continue to shape our priorities for years to come. What’s happening now? We’re partnering with the city of Kansas City to create the Office of Racial Equity and Reconciliation, which will work with the community to design a framework for equitable policymaking. This fall, Health Forward supported the Mid-America Regional Council’s regional housing partnership, which is working to align people and resources across our region to increase housing stock and sustainably house more of our community members. We’re also engaging in a qualitative exploration of power by listening to understand how the people we serve experience power.

We have the ingenuity to solve deeply entrenched health issues that have plagued our counties and communities for decades. Every day, Health Forward Foundation works to support and build inclusive, powerful and healthy communities characterized by racial equity and economically just systems. It’s this focus on systems that I invite our partners, our elected officials, our business community and regional stakeholders to share. As a region, all decisions are either advancing health equity or flying in the face of it. The choice is ours. Together, let’s grasp these issues at the roots. Health equity is in reach.