“This has given my family a second chance.”
That’s how one resident described what changed after moving into a UHPF home. Not the square footage, not the finishes, a second chance.
It’s a striking thing to say about an apartment, until you understand how much a stable home actually carries. Where we live shapes how we sleep, how we eat, whether we feel safe, and whether we feel connected to anyone at all. That’s the heart of our third Opportunity Indicator: Well-Being, the extent to which housing supports mental and physical health, safety, and belonging.
Public health researchers have a name for this idea: housing is a determinant of health. When a home is predictable and affordable, it lowers chronic stress, strengthens social ties, and makes room for the daily routines that keep people well. Our residents describe exactly that shift after moving in.
89% of residents say they feel safe and supported in their community. As one put it, “The apartment is clean and safe. That makes a big difference.” Safety, it turns out, is where well-being begins, and it ripples outward into mental health, too. 82% of residents report improved mental well-being compared to a year ago, and 45% report improved physical health since moving in.
“Having a stable place has helped my mental health a lot.”
Those improvements aren’t abstract. They come from concrete changes in daily life. A stable, well-located home reshapes the small logistics that quietly govern health.
54% of residents say their commute times or transportation costs have dropped since moving into a UHPF home, returning time and money to the rest of their lives. Location matters, too: 59% frequently walk to a grocery store and 44% regularly visit nearby parks, folding movement and fresh food into ordinary days.
Perhaps most telling, 48% of residents say the cost of their housing directly shapes their health choices: what they can spend on food, medical care, and insurance. When rent is affordable, those trade-offs ease. A cheaper home isn’t just a cheaper home; it’s the reason a prescription gets filled or a doctor’s visit happens at all.
Well-being is more than the absence of stress. It’s the presence of connection. That’s why we layer social infrastructure into the communities we preserve, so a home becomes a place to belong, not just a place to live.
At Monaco in Millcreek, we partner with Project Access to bring that belonging to life. In 2025, 316 residents took part, engaging an average of 14 times each across a range of on-site resources:
Sometimes that support changes the whole shape of a life. Godai arrived in the United States as a refugee and a gifted jewelry maker, selling her work in public parks to get by. Through Project Access, she found the language and procedural help she needed to obtain a small business license, and began earning a meaningful income at local markets.
“I learned a lot of helpful information that I can use in my daily life.” - Godai, Monaco resident
This is where the three Opportunity Indicators come together. Housing Stability gives families the ground to stand on. Financial Stability gives them room to build. Well-Being is what all of it is for: the safety, health, and belonging that turn a preserved building into a genuine home.
A second chance. A calmer mind. A neighbor who knows your name. These are the outcomes that don’t show up on a balance sheet, but they’re the truest measure of why preservation matters. It’s why our work has always been about more than housing.
Data drawn from UHPF’s 2025 portfolio-wide resident survey, the Project Access partnership at Monaco, and More Than Housing: 2025 Impact Report. Learn more at uhpf.org.