This article argues in favor of responding to the lack of affordable housing in America as a public health crisis. The "medicalization"I frame adopted here responds to epidemiological evidence of the nexus between health and housing, invites collaborative and integrated solutions to improve health outcomes, and points to innovative financing streams to pay for policy recommendations. Harkening to the theme of this conference, the article is organized into three parts. Part II lays groundwork for the conclusion that contemporary housing policy should reflect historic notions of altruism in order to efficiently and effectively lower the public health costs imposed by a widespread lack of affordable housing. Part III identifies defects that make market solutions as poor a substitute for public health interventions today, as they were during nineteenth century America, when national housing policy began. The focus of this discussion points to the impact that housing affordability has on population health outcomes. Part IV identifies the communities that suffer when the public health burdens imposed by markets that lack affordable housing. This part advances the view that housing policy informed by a population health perspective could improve health outcomes not only in low-income communities, but also in the working-class and middle-income communities. The article concludes with a summary of the benefits and limitations of viewing housing affordability crises through a public health lens.