Healthy Homes Greensboro Initiative: Strategic collaboration to reduce health disparities

The Healthy Homes Greensboro (NC) Initiative is a strategic collaboration to reduce disparities in health and housing, promoting social justice. We have developed a comprehensive Intervention Model to advocate for effective public policy and implement best practices established by scientific research. As epidemiologists collected data on housing-related health problems by census tract, particularly asthma hospitalizations and lead poisoning, vast disparities became clear; the neighborhoods with the highest percentage of minority residents, poverty, and substandard housing units have asthma hospitalizations up to 21 times the statewide rate. Our goal is to cut this disparity in half in three years.

The Intervention Model has four community infrastructure steps: evaluating and analyzing data, building workforce capacity, raising awareness through annual healthy homes bus tours, and advocating for strong code enforcement policies and expanded “green and healthy” repair resources. The four direct-service steps are: identifying homes at risk, doing comprehensive housing assessments, assisting homeowners/tenants/landlords to achieve repairs, and following up to collect data on the health impact of remediation. Greensboro Housing Coalition, the nonprofit advocate for safe and affordable housing, partners with Guilford County Dept of Public Health, City of Greensboro, local universities, health care institutions and housing providers. To overcome barriers of language and distrust, collaborative partners speak Spanish, French, and a variety of African and Asian languages; we win the confidence of vulnerable teen moms and persons with mental disabilities.

This initiative complements the fine work of UNC Institute for the Environment on the state level and implements national healthy homes recommendations.