Healthier Homes, Healthier Residents
Several federal agencies have unveiled Advancing Healthy Housing – A Strategy for Action, a new initiative that encourages other agencies to take preemptive actions that will help reduce the number of American homes with health and safety hazards.
The Strategy for Action unifies federal action to advance healthy housing, demonstrating the connection between housing conditions and residents’ health. The initiative also promotes strategies and methods intended to reduce in-home health hazards in a cost-effective manner.
“It is clear that unhealthy and unsafe housing has an impact on the health of millions of people in the United States, which is why we must do everything we can to ensure that individuals and families have a healthy place to call home,” said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan. “Today’s announcement will help the federal government unify action to controlling and preventing major housing-related exposures and hazards.”
“Healthy homes and communities are essential to our quality of life, our productivity, and our economic vitality,” said Nancy Sutley, Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality. “Through this plan, Federal agencies have committed to working together to make sure all Americans can count on safe, healthy places to live, grow, and thrive.”
The overall vision for the Strategy is to reduce the number of American homes with residential health and safety hazards, achieved through five goals: establish healthy homes recommendations, encourage adoption of healthy homes recommendations, create and support training and workforce development to address health hazards in housing, educate the public about healthy homes, and support research that informs and advances healthy housing in a cost-effective manner.