Abstract
Compelling scientific evidence suggests that a strong association exists between housing-related hazards and the health and safety of their residents. Health, safety, and environmental hazards (such as asthma and allergy triggers), unintentional injury hazards, lead-based paint hazards, and poor indoor air quality are interrelated with substandard housing conditions. This article describes a Healthy Homes initiative to address these hazards in a coordinated fashion in the home, rather than taking a categorical approach, even in the presence of multiple hazards. It also provides an overview of Oklahoma's Healthy Homes initiative and its pilot project, the Tulsa Safe and Healthy Housing Project, which is currently administered in Tulsa in collaboration with Children First, Oklahoma's Nurse-Family Partnership program. This pilot project seeks to open new areas of research that can lead to a greater understanding of environmental health issues related to substandard housing in the United States, which will eventually make homes safer and healthier.