Federal Agency Support for Healthy Homes

Abstract

Numerous studies have demonstrated that housing interventions such as addressing structural deficiencies or lack of safety devices improve health. These successes, coupled with reports by health care and housing professionals of other health and safety issues in homes that they were unable to address, have renewed interest in promoting health by addressing unhealthy housing conditions--but with a holistic approach. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, US Department of Housing and Urban Development, and US Environmental Protection Agency fund programs to improve indoor air and drinking water quality and prevent childhood lead poisoning. All of these programs offer valuable lessons for designing more integrated programs. The federal agencies and their grantees have demonstrated that interagency collaboration is essential for successful outcomes. However, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Centers for Disease Control recognize that no individual agency has all of the necessary resources or expertise to formulate national programs and policies and implement a national healthy homes agenda. Thus, they have come together with the US Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Energy, the US Department of Agriculture, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, and the Office of the Surgeon General to form an interagency working group to ensure that vigorous, healthy homes policies are implemented at federal, national, and community levels.