The primary goal of the HUD-funded Healthy Homes program is to decrease exposures to multiple household hazards which contribute to asthma exacerbations and other serious illnesses among children under the age of 6 in Portland's distressed communities of Multnomah County. A secondary goal is to implement sustainable healthy homes concepts at the programmatic and policy level. These goals will be achieved through:

• Mobilizing new and existing public and private resources with a holistic approach to accomplish Healthy Homes objectives;
• Fostering cooperation among low-income residents, health care systems, all levels of government, the private sector (profit and non-profit), neighborhood groups, faith-based organizations, and environmental justice groups;
• Developing relationships with low-income homeowners, renters, property mangers and owners to improve housing through assessment, education, and remediation of physical/structural EH hazards.

The program will work with eligible families in multiple types of home environments including:  affordable housing, single family home, market rate apartments and multi-family complexes. The program integrates in-home case management activities and targeted community-based education and outreach to promote sustainability of healthy home concepts.

Who Is Eligible?
This program is available to 200 families under 185% the federal poverty level who use Multnomah County Primary Care Clinics, and that have a child under 6 with asthma.

To determine if your family is eligible, download the Healthy Homes brochure.

Program Objectives:

• To engage stakeholders in the creation of sustainable collaboration between health and housing partners to promote healthy homes, fair housing and environmental justice;
• To decrease family home environmental exposures to asthma triggers, lead sources, and other indoor home hazards by implementing effective, low-cost home and asthma health and housing interventions using a multidisciplinary approach of education, hazard remediation and linkage to community resources.
• To promote program sustainability by integrating healthy home concepts into daily work of local housing and health workers (housing inspectors and remediation crews, landlords and property managers, primary care providers, community health workers, and field nurses) through training and technical assistance;
• To incorporate tracking and evaluation data into program decision-making in a continuous improvement process and to conduct an evaluation of the outcomes and impact of the program activities;
• To disseminate knowledge gained through community presentations, reports, and discussions with local government agencies and community-based organizations, media, academic publications and conferences.