Program that provides housing to pregnant moms expanding in effort to cut infant mortality – By Titus Wu (The Columbus Dispatch) / April 13, 2022
In an effort to reduce infant mortality in Ohio, a pilot program that provides housing to pregnant women dealing with or at risk of homelessness will soon expand in Columbus and put new roots in Akron.
The state will provide $2.25 million from its budget for the expansion, but groups behind the program are asking for $9 million more for further growth.
“It’s exciting to have a way to demonstrate in a very specific, very stubborn problem of infant mortality, that a housing strategy can make a measurable difference,” said Bill Faith, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Ohio had the 10th worst infant mortality rate in the nation during 2020, at 6.53 deaths per 1,000 births.
