As Intermountain continues to lean into proactive care, there is a greater understanding about how the social determinants of health are critical to positive health outcomes.
Socioeconomic status is one example, as individuals who report excellent health hold 74% more wealth than those who report fair or poor health. This is especially true for children.
Among children up to age three, fewer than 75% of children whose family incomes are less than $100,000 per year report excellent or very good health compared with 90% of children in families with incomes that exceed $100,0000 per year. Among economically disadvantaged children, 9.6% have a physical or mental disability that limits their activities, compared with 5.7% of economically advantaged children.
For this reason, providing homeownership opportunities for low-income families is a priority for Intermountain's Place Based Investment efforts. The equity that families build in their home over time is a source of wealth and stability. Families that cannot afford to buy a home miss out on this critical building block of financial well-being.
Enter the Perpetual Housing Fund of Utah (PHF), a nonprofit organization with an innovative model to build equity for tenants. PHF exists to remove the red tape, down payment, and income barriers that keep low-income families from building equity where they live. It does this by building high-quality apartment buildings and allocating 75% of all proceeds and equity in the building to resident-shareholders.
How does this work in practice? The application process is very much like a traditional apartment rental, and residents make a typical monthly rent payment. However, at the end of the year, residents receive a “rent rebate” equal to 75% of the building’s profit for that year. PHF keeps the remaining 25% to pay expenses, investors, etc.
In addition to the rent rebate, residents also receive 75% of the property appreciation over time, which can contribute significantly to a family’s wealth and help interrupt cycles of intergenerational poverty. This simulates the creation of equity over time that a homeowner naturally creates by paying down their mortgage.
Intermountain Health was the first investor into the Utah Perpetual Housing Fund, playing a foundational role in helping start this housing model. Intermountain made a $5 million investment into the fund in 2023, and construction on the first PHF project started in July 2024.
In 2019, the average net worth of a family who rents a home was $6,300, compared to an average net worth for homeowners of $255,000. By providing low-income families with a steppingstone out of the cycle of intergenerational poverty, PHF is supporting children’s health outcomes and a brighter future for Utah.
Another example connected to children’s health
An in-home daycare owner in Montana worked with MoFi, a nonprofit community development financial institution in Utah and Montana, to build a successful business over seven years with a steady wait list. Intermountain has provided a loan to Mofi that will support the creation of 50 jobs in Montana and Utah through businesses like this. Capitalizing on Mofi’s guidance, the business owner purchased an existing daycare center, expanded her staff, and helped increase quality childcare and workforce reliability for her community. All Mofi loans go to disadvantaged small businesses denied bank financing. Over 90% of recipients are low-income, women-owned, rural, or minority-owned businesses.