How a housing advocacy coalition adds health: A culture of claims-making

Organizations that pursue health advocacy often tackle other issues too. How do these multi-issue organizations articulate and combine health with other issues? We examine how a Los Angeles coalition focused primarily on housing took up health in its 2008-2011 campaign against a residential development. Participant observation and archival data reveal that cultural context influenced how the coalition made claims about health, in two ways. First, advocates shared two major symbolic categories, which oriented the great bulk of their appeals regarding health. Second, advocates crafted rhetorical appeals that reflected their shared sense of social identity and obligation as spokespersons for a distinctive kind of community. These two kinds of cultural context influenced advocates' claims in public, formal settings as well more internal communication. These distinct, cultural influences on claims-making create challenges for socioeconomically diverse coalitions collaborating on health problems.