Seattle, Boston, Atlanta, New York and Columbus, Ohio, are just a handful of cities seeing hospitals enter the real estate space in a community-based approach to healthcare, NPR reported.

Hospitals, seeing a cycle of returning patients from dire housing circumstances, are taking aim at these readmissions by investing directly in renovating and reselling homes. New alternative payment models are incentivizing hospitals to invest in preventive care, which can start in the home by giving patients a healthy place to live.

"This is a national trend," Jason Corburn, professor of city and regional planning at the University of California, Berkeley, told NPR. "It's happening in cities across the country."

Not only does the health of patients improve when they have a healthier place to live, but the profitability of hospitals and insurers also improves.

One children’s hospital in Columbus, Ohio, spent $6.6 million on a housing investment, but the hospital expects it will pay for itself by reducing the number of hospital visits.

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