Evidence Matters: Winter 2016

Abstract

The federal government’s recognition of the connection between housing and health predates HUD’s existence as an agency. The United States Housing Act of 1937 created the United States Housing Authority within the U.S. Department of Interior with a mission “to remedy the unsafe and insanitary housing conditions and the acute shortage of decent, safe, and sanitary dwellings for families of low income, in rural or urban communities, that are injurious to the health, safety, and morals of the citizens of the Nation.” When HUD became a cabinet-level agency in 1965, improving health and sanitary housing conditions was part of its mission. Over the past five decades, the agency has made great progress in reducing the number of Americans living in substandard housing, and HUD’s Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control supports a wide range of research and grantmaking to promote health and reduce lead-based paint and other household hazards — the office’s great work can be seen throughout this issue.