CVS Makes Health Services Accessible For Underserved Communities

Optimal wellbeing and physical health are guiding forces in consumers’ lives today, informing their preferred brands and products and ultimately driving purchase decisions and loyalty. Retailers like CVS are looking to the boom in the healthcare and wellness markets to expand in innovative and impactful ways. In order to reaffirm its commitment to  building out new approaches to products, services, and tools in the health and wellness market space, CVS has been investing in an affordable housing strategy across the country. 

In 2021 alone, the retail chain actively committed $185 million in support of the development and rehabilitation of more than 6,570 affordable housing units in 64 cities across 28 states, including Florida, Louisiana, Texas, and Washington D.C. in order to advance health equity nationwide. By providing permanent supportive housing (PSH) units to underserved communities, CVS hopes to create more economic support and opportunities to communities in need. The PSH residents tend to be individuals with physical, intellectual and developmental disabilities, as well as youth aging out of foster care, victims of domestic violence, people in need of behavioral health or addiction treatment and individuals challenged by similar life and health situations.

The residents of the communities CVS is investing in will also gain access to a breadth of services provided by the retailer to help stabilize and improve their mental and physical wellbeing. Overall, the health equity initiatives will make a great impact on local communities by focusing on education and empowerment; and CVS hopes to roll in some of its other health-focused initiatives into the housing development programs. For example, alongside the affordable housing investment the retailer also plans to expand the reach of its Project Health program. Project Health offers  free biometric screenings to consumers to help identify chronic conditions before they become life-threatening illnesses.

The concentrated local investments from CVS are meant to reduce health disparities in high-risk communities and proactively address underlying racial inequity and social determinants of health. 

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This article originally appeared in the PSFK iQ report, Store As Home For Empowerment.