National Center for Healthy Housing Announces New Executive Director
Nancy Eldridge to Expand NCHH’s Focus into Healthcare Interventions and Aging-in-Place
Media Contact: Michelle Harvey, 443.539.4166, mharvey@nchh.org
The National Center for Healthy Housing (NCHH) is excited to announce that Nancy Rockett Eldridge has been selected to serve as executive director.
Nancy Rockett Eldridge succeeds Rebecca Morley as NCHH’s third executive director.
For the past 16 years, Ms. Eldridge has served as the chief executive officer of the Cathedral Square Corporation (CSC), a Vermont-based nonprofit, increasing the number of CSC’s affordable housing communities to 28 and expanding its focus to include the health of Vermont’s aging population. Eldridge is the founder of the Support and Services at Home (SASH) initiative, a team effort to help Medicare beneficiaries remain at home and get the services they need—when they need them.
Vermont has a strong history of serving as a laboratory for innovative ideas. SASH is a powerful example of an idea brought to scale statewide with impressive outcomes. SASH is a collaboration between over 65 organizations and the state’s Blueprint for Health. It is that partnership that has produced significant savings while improving access to care and improved health.
As executive director, Ms. Eldridge will lead NCHH in new directions starting this summer. NCHH is the pre-eminent national nonprofit dedicated to securing healthy homes for all through the integration of health and housing science and policy. NCHH was created by Enterprise Community Partners in 1992 and has offices in Columbia, MD, and Washington, DC. NCHH unites healthy housing advocacy, research, and capacity building under one roof to improve health and reduce health disparities nationwide.
For more than 20 years, NCHH has strived to identify the practical proven steps for creating safe and healthy homes for children. From this focus, two new commitments have emerged: ensuring that healthy housing is healthy for seniors as well as children and increasing health equity through better informed housing and community development decisions. “Consequently, we are thrilled that Nancy Eldridge has agreed to become our third-ever executive director,” says Marcheta Gillam, chair of the NCHH Board of Directors. A senior housing attorney with the Legal Aid Society of Greater Cincinnati, Ms. Gillam well appreciates the system-level changes needed to narrow the human health disparities that arise from unhealthy housing.
Ms. Eldridge holds a master’s degree in urban and environmental policy from Tufts University. She will bring a new perspective to NCHH’s work. In addition to continuing to support the improvement of substandard housing, Ms. Eldridge views the thousands of high-quality affordable housing developments across the country as a valuable asset in healthcare reform and essential to healthy neighborhoods.
“Home is where seniors want to be,” Eldridge said. “And that is also where healthy behaviors are shaped at all ages. Models like SASH have proven that by embedding health services in the home we can reduce healthcare spending, while meeting the preferences of Americans young and old. Healthy housing models are popping up across the country and need support to grow. The potential is enormous.”
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About the National Center for Healthy Housing
The National Center for Healthy Housing is the preeminent national nonprofit dedicated to securing safe and affordable healthy housing for America’s families. A highly regarded and credible change agent, NCHH has successfully integrated healthy housing advocacy, research, and capacity building under one roof to reduce health disparities nationwide. You can follow NCHH on Twitter @nchh or become a fan on Facebook at Facebook.com/HealthyHousing.