July 19, 2010

Like many families in older, urban neighborhoods, Laquan Young struggled with her son Dwayne’s severe asthma attacks which left him unable to sleep at night, attend school or even play with the other children in the neighborhood. She missed work so often to take her son into the hospital that her job was in jeopardy, and medical bills kept rising. Beset by a home that had elevated levels of dust mites, mice allergens, mold spores, water damage in the basement, inadequate insulation and air leakage, and lead paint hazards, this hard working family struggled. As winter was approaching they knew that things would only get worse as they did not have a functioning furnace or water heater for over five years.

But Baltimore had an answer for Young and her family. Having seen this story too many times, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and her administration joined forces with the Council on Foundations and the National Coalition to End Childhood Lead Poisoning’s Healthy Homes program to create the Green and Healthy Homes Initiative (GHHI).

The Initiative is designed to build on the opportunities presented by the historic American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) investments in energy efficiency and weatherization. By blending healthy home dollars with energy efficiency dollars, GHHI is able to achieve a four fold set of benefits: 1) More efficient use of public dollars; 2) the creation of sustainable green jobs; 3) healthier, more energy efficient homes and 4) better health outcomes for children in terms of reducing asthma, household injury and poisonings.

For Rawlings-Blake, she has taken the GHHI program designed by the Coalition and incorporated those practices into government. She has created an Office of Green and Sustainable Housing that oversees the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP), Housing Rehabilitation, and Roof Repair Programs. She has assured that the WAP program utilizes a Whole House Assessment Triage to identify and coordinate resources to address issues such as roofing, indoor allergens, lead paint, mold, or safety hazards.

Under Rawlings-Blake, Baltimore has implemented the GHHI approach to more efficiently leverage public and private resources by:

• Replacing stand-alone programs (weatherization, lead hazard control, fire safety, etc.) with a comprehensive assessment and intervention strategy to enable/ensure a healthy housing standard

• Reducing inefficiencies under current systems by reducing the number of programs, inspectors, and contractors required to complete multiple interventions in a single home

• Reducing barriers to intergovernmental coordination

• Reducing potential unsafe work practices in weatherization and energy efficiency interventions that could generate lead hazards

To achieve a comprehensive approach, Baltimore’s Green and Healthy Homes Initiative is blending diverse program funding from WAP, Housing Rehabilitation, Roofing Repair, CDBG, CSBG, Lead Hazard Reduction, and Healthy Homes Programs while coupling with partners including the Coalition’s HUD funded Lead and Healthy Homes Programs, the Maryland Energy Administration, Baltimore Gas and Electric, Rebuilding Together, and philanthropies such as the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Baltimore Community Foundation, Osprey Foundation, and the Blaustein Foundation.

Using the GHHI approach, cities can: increase the pipeline of homes for weatherization because homes of eligible families which might otherwise be disqualified (50-60 percent) because of health and safety hazards can now receive urgently needed weatherization; improve school performance and school attendance and reduce health care costs caused by reductions in lead poisoning, asthma episodes, and household injury; create a tangible and immediate pathway to higher quality green jobs that include certifications and training to ensure better wages, full benefits and long-term opportunities; and stabilize low income communities.

What’s being found in the first 180 homes in Baltimore shows very promising results. In the initial GHHI Pilot Project. Baltimore homes with integrated interventions experienced cost savings in some homes over 25 percent. This created a process that can effectively produce every fifth house for free.

Lequan Young Example:

• Total Intervention Cost with GHHI Approach: $12,057

• Total Intervention Cost with non-GHHI Approach: $16,096

• GHHI Cost Savings: $4,039 (25 percent)

Through workforce development and green job training, 46 jobs have been created and 92 jobs retained by ARRA and other funding support directly related to the city’s GHHI Pilot Project.

Those interventions have created an energy efficient home where Dwayne and his mother are safe from environmental and safety hazards in his home. Dwayne has made the honor roll at school, Mom is thriving at work, and Dwayne has not returned to the emergency room or hospital. In effect, the $12,000 invested in interventions in the home has also virtually paid for itself by avoided health care costs from Dwayne not having to be repeatedly hospitalized for asthma episodes.

Baltimore’s work has inspired federal and philanthropic supporters who are partnering with the Coalition in eleven other cities around the country to implement GHHI Pilot Projects including Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, Detroit, Flint, New Haven, Oakland, Philadelphia, Providence, and San Antonio. The leadership of Rawlings-Blake in Baltimore, along with the work in other GHHI cities, is helping to create a new national Green and Healthy Homes standard for integrated housing interventions.

For more information, contact Ruth Ann Norton, Executive Director of the Coalition to End Childhood Lead Poisoning, at ranorton@leadsafe.org.