While the Healthy Homes Initiative is not a production program, it helps organizations and local government agencies to develop, evaluate, and disseminate cost-effective tools and practices for preventing and controlling health hazards in housing. These tools and practices can pay off directly in reducing or eliminating many health hazards such as mold and moisture, cockroaches, rodents, and indoor allergens.

The case studies below, hardly isolated or rare, vividly illustrate the need for the tools and practices developed by Healthy Homes grantees.

Rodents Threaten Boston Boy’s Life
In Boston, a 16-year-old boy with a serious chronic illness required frequent small meals to keep his blood sugar from crashing to dangerously low levels. At night, he was fed a sugar solution through a feeding tube while he slept. One night, rats in his apartment chewed through the feeding tube, cutting off the boy’s supply. In the morning, the boy’s blood sugar level was so low that he had to be rushed to the emergency room. (Source: Sandel, Sharfstein, and Shaw, Doc4Kids Project, There’s No Place Like Home, 1999)

Mold Costs Vermont Agency Millions
A 120-unit property was constructed in Vermont in 1970 at a cost of $2.1 million under the HUD 236 program. Due to poor drainage, a hilly site, and an unsuccessful first round of rehab and remediation, significant mold infestation occurred in the building. Residents in 26 of the units needed to be relocated during a second round of remediation, as the mold levels in their apartments posed immediate health risks. The total cost to the Vermont Housing Finance Agency to repair the problems on this property was over $13 million. (Source: Sam Falzone, Vermont Housing Finance Authority)

Cockroach Invades San Francisco Child’s Medical Device
San Francisco is home to a young Cambodian boy with severe medical conditions that require him to have a permanent tracheostomy (a small opening in the windpipe). He has to wear a tracheostomy collar in order to breathe properly. The boy’s room, which he shared with eight siblings, was so overrun with cockroaches that his home care nurse reported suctioning a roach from the boy’s collar. (Source: Sharfstein and Sandel eds., Doc4Kids Project, Not Safe at Home, 1998)

Mold Infestation Forces Residents to Move from Atlanta Apartments
Throughout Spring 2002, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution published a series of articles documenting mold problems in at least 13 homes and apartment complexes subsidized by the Atlanta Housing Authority. In one especially troubling case, at the Moreland Woods apartment complex, mold was so severe that it caused sore throats, breathing problems, and the onset of asthma in children. Residents were cleaning walls with bleach every ten days in an effort to eliminate the problem. In all, over 100 families were forced to move out of their apartments due to extensive mold infestation. (Source: Miller, Andy and Ernie Suggs, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 30-31, June 20, and June 30, 2002)

Unhealthy Housing Conditions Cause Asthma Suffering in Seattle
A 6-year-old boy in Seattle developed severe asthma with no previous history of the disease. Doctors tried multiple medications, but the asthma kept getting worse. The reasons for the boy’s asthma suffering could be found in his apartment: mold grew on the walls, cockroaches infested the apartment, and four people slept on one mattress on the floor in one room, exposing the boy to numerous asthma triggers. When the family tried to get help in improving the boy’s living conditions, the Seattle Housing Authority told them that they were “at the bottom of the list.” (Source: Sharfstein and Sandel eds., Doc4Kids Project, Not Safe at Home, Appendix, 1998)

New York City Building a Haven for Mold
New York City is home to Phipps Plaza South, a 294-unit, 30-story building constructed in the 1960s. The building was funded by a HUD-insured mortgage program, and its tenants are low- and moderate-income families. The building suffered from large-scale moisture problems, including water penetration of exterior walls, leaks in the interior plumbing, and trouble with kitchen and bathroom exhaust vents. The moisture saturated much of the paper backing of the drywall throughout the building, providing a perfect habitat for at least two toxic mold species. Families in the building developed various ailments, including asthma, respiratory infections, skin rashes, and chronic fatigue. (Source: Sharfstein and Sandel eds., Doc4Kids Project, Not Safe at Home, Appendix, 1998)

Rotten Roof in Pasadena Opens Door to Rampant Mold Growth
In February 2003, heavy rains poured through the rotten roof of the Cinema 21 apartment complex in Pasadena, California, and dripped through the hallways of its third floor. Within two months, toxic molds were growing on and in the walls and ceilings of the hallways and in the apartments of the third floor, and city officials evacuated 111 people, including 49 children. The building contained other health hazards as well, including peeling paint and filthy carpeting that harbored multiple asthma triggers. (Source: Allan, Marshall and Gary Scott, “Residents evacuated due to toxic mold,” San Gabriel Valley Tribune, April 4, 2003)