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Safe, Stable Housing Is Critical to Community Health. Here’s Why.

By  //  September 1, 2026

Through its Wellness Grants, Health First supports housing stability efforts that help prevent homelessness – before crises strike.

ABOVE VIDEO: Teresa spent 24 years driving forklifts, then worked as a school bus and truck driver before a 2015 accident left her with permanent disabilities. Simple daily tasks quickly became exhausting – not to mention unsafe.

BREVARD COUNTY • MELBOURNE, FLORIDA – Teresa spent 24 years driving forklifts, then worked as a school bus and truck driver before a 2015 accident left her with permanent disabilities. Simple daily tasks quickly became exhausting – not to mention unsafe.

“We weren’t living where there was a ramp,” Teresa, 67, said, who relied on her adult son, Kresan, to help push her wheelchair long distances to access inconvenient ramps near their former apartment home. “It was stressful. It was stressful for me. It was stressful for him. It’s just hard to live like that.”

Teresa, a Space Coast Habitat for Humanity homeowner, said having a safe, affordable and ADA-compliant home provides her the chance to be “able to do the things that I used to do before.”

Now, that chapter is in the past. After becoming a family partner with the Space Coast Habitat for Humanity, Teresa and Kresan now have their own single-family home, complete with ADA accommodations – including those ramps she depends on. She said her stress levels are lower, she’s feeling healthier and, for the first time in years, she feels free – and uplifted.

“I feel like now that I’ve got a future out there,” Teresa said. “I got a nice future ahead of me now, because I’m able to do the things that I used to do before.”

Safe, stable housing can reduce stress, support independent living and help prevent crises that can lead to homelessness. That’s why Health First is supporting the cause through its 2026 Wellness Grants, recognizing that housing insecurity is not just a housing issue – it’s a health issue.

By addressing housing challenges before they become emergencies, organizations like Habitat can help improve health and well-being long before medical care is needed.

Teresa, 67, of Melbourne, could not function independently in her former home because it lacked the accessibility features she needed. Her story reflects the kind of safe, accessible housing support Space Coast Habitat for Humanity provides across Brevard.

Health First is providing more than $160,000 to six community partners in Brevard County focused on homelessness, as part of its $600,000 in Wellness Grants aligned with priority areas identified in the 2025 Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA). Habitat is receiving a $30,000 grant to support safe, stable housing and critical home repairs for low-income seniors, people with disabilities and other vulnerable residents. Collectively, the grants also address access to care, food insecurity, and opportunities to support healthier lifestyles.

Anna Terry, President of the Brevard-based Habitat for Humanity, said providing pathways to affordable housing and essential home repairs plays a critical role in helping families avoid housing instability and homelessness.

“It really gives them a boost up, not only in their health, but even in their mental well-being,” Terry said. For example, “it allows seniors to stay in their homes longer when we make these modifications, and it allows them to continue a healthy lifestyle.”

Anna Terry, President of the Space Coast Habitat for Humanity, said providing pathways to affordable housing and essential home repairs plays a critical role in helping families avoid housing instability and homelessness.

Kate DiIulio, Director Family Services, said making homes more accessible is a huge benefit for those with mobility issues.

“It gives them that level of independence where they’re not relying on somebody else to assist them with those daily living skills,” DiIulio said.

DiIulio added that there’s incredible joy in seeing people, such as Teresa, regain the independence they have lost. Terry said that same stability is also central to Habitat’s repair program. “The great part about the repair program is that it allows a low-income family to stay in their home,” Terry said. “Because the opposite of staying in your home is possibly homelessness.”

Community support is critical

While no single organization can solve housing insecurity alone, community partnerships make it possible for organizations like Habitat to reach more families.

“We actually couldn’t do as many repairs as we do without community support,” Terry said.

With support from Health First and other community partners, more Brevard residents are able to remain safely housed and maintain their independence.

For Teresa, the impact was immediate.

“I basically raised my arms up to heaven, and I thank God, and I thank Habitat,” Teresa said of the first time she entered her home. “I even felt the stress just leaving me, because I knew I was finally home – and I was where I needed to be.”

To learn more about how Health First gives back to the community and to see a full list of organizations being supported this year, visit hf.org/wellnessgrants and hf.org/giving-back.