New Emphasis on Healthy Housing

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Sustainable materials, non-wasteful practices and energy efficiency are hallmarks of eco-friendly housing efforts. Now, one organization and a federal program are looking more directly at how these efforts can make homes healthier for their occupants. Following Seven Steps The National Center for Healthy Housing, a nonprofit corporation based in Columbia, Md., and formed in 1992, took on the problem of childhood lead The National Center for Healthy Housing offers seven steps to having a safe, healthy home for children. Morley says that the center has received “mostly positive reactions” to the report and feedback on how some criteria will be strengthened. “We have seen improvement in the health components of these programs since our 2006 report,” she says. “This suggests that our advocacy is working. If everyone receives an A+ the next time, we will know that we have succeeded.” The steps, selected by leaders in the field, are known as the Seven Principles of Healthy Housing. The principles recommend keeping homes dry, clean, pest-free, ventilated, safe, contaminant-free and maintained. Each principle addresses multiple areas of a home and together they create a framework for understanding how elements within a home are interrelated, says Executive Director Rebecca Morley. Though NCHH’s effort on lead poisoning is a textbook case of a public health success, the center says there is still work to be done. “There are millions of children suffering the long-term effects of lead poisoning and hundreds of thousands who are newly exposed each year,” Morley says. “Along with lead poisoning, asthma and injuries are critical issues for children in their home environments. Asthma is a perfect example of why a holistic healthy homes approach is needed since a broad array of factors within the home can lead to the development and exacerbation of asthma. And injuries in the home are second only to automobile accidents as the leading cause of death for young children.” Teaching professionals about healthy homes has been one way to get across the message. Through its affiliated National Healthy Homes Training Center, NCHH offers health and housing professionals an educational opportunity to earn a Healthy Homes Specialist credential. Making Green Homes Healthier NCHH also has addressed the growing green building effort. In September 2008, it released its recent analysis of four major green building programs. Its report, "How Healthy are National Green Building Programs?", compared guidelines of those building programs with its own healthy housing criteria. NCHH wanted to learn if the programs, from its perspective, adequately protect residents from housing conditions known to affect health status, such as asthma and respiratory disease, unintentional injuries, allergic reactions, cancer and other health effects from contaminants and allergens. The analysis examined guidelines of both the public and private sectors. The four programs were Enterprise Community Partners’ Green Communities, National Association of Home Builders’ Green Home Building, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star with Indoor Air Package and the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED for Homes. The results show that while all the programs have components aimed at improving resident health, many miss critical elements. For example, NCHH’s

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