Improved housing offers a tremendous opportunity to boost health. Some of the links between substandard housing and poor health are obvious, if alarming – pests and mold promote asthma, lead poisoning irreversibly damages the brains of developing children, inadequate heating and ventilation increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. Less immediately visible is the impact of unaffordable housing, which forces families to make choices among basic needs, and neighborhood conditions, such as lack of access to nutritional food. To lift up their residents and position their cities for economic growth, US mayors are turning to innovative partnerships to safeguard that place called home.