Rental Housing Deposits and Health Care Use.

Importance: Housing deposits and tenancy supports have become new Medicaid benefits in multiple states; however, evidence on impacts from these specific housing interventions is limited.

Objective: To evaluate the association of rental housing deposits and health care use among Medicaid beneficiaries receiving social needs case management as part of a Whole-Person Care (Medicaid 1115 waiver) pilot program in California.

Design, setting, and participants: This cohort study compared changes in health care use among a group of adults who received a housing deposit between October 2018 and December 2021 along with case management vs a matched comparison group who received case management only in Contra Costa County, California, a large county in the San Francisco Bay Area. All participants were enrolled in health and social needs case management based on elevated risk of acute care use. Data analysis took place from March 2023 to June 2024.

Exposure: Rental housing deposit funds that covered 1-time moving transition costs. Funds averaged $1750 per recipient.

Main outcomes and measures: Changes in hospitalizations, emergency department visits, primary care visits, specialty care visits, behavioral health visits, psychiatric emergency services, or detention intakes during the 6 months before vs 6 months after deposit receipt. Changes 12 months before and after deposit receipt were examined as a sensitivity analysis.

Results: Of 1690 case management participants, 845 received a housing deposit (362 [42.8%] <40 years old; 422 [49.9%] male) and 845 received case management only (367 [43.4%] <40 years old; 426 [50.4%] male). In adjusted analyses, deposit recipients had no statistically significant differential changes in health care use for any measure compared to participants who received case management alone. Twelve-month sensitivity analyses yielded consistent results.

Conclusions and relevance: In this cohort study, compared to case management only, housing deposits with case management were not associated with short-term changes in health care use. There may be other unmeasured health benefits or downstream benefits from greater case management engagement. States considering housing deposits as an expanded Medicaid benefit may need to temper expectations about short-term health care use impacts.