What NCHH Does 

Our mission is to ensure that everyone has a safe and healthy home. With more than six million families living in substandard housing, we equip leaders across the public health, housing, and environmental sectors with the data, tools, policies, and best practices needed to improve housing quality in their communities. We channel the powerful energy and deep-rooted interests of the healthy housing movement into a force for change. Learn how you can be a part of this change.

 

NCHH Statement on CDC RIFs: Mass Layoffs Risk Death and Injury from Environmental Hazards 

This morning, we received word that the staff for the entire Division of Environmental Health Science and Practice within the National Center for Environmental Health at the Centers for Disease Control has been laid off as part of a reduction in force (RIF) across CDC and HHS. This division includes the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program, the National Asthma Control Program, the Environmental Public Health Tracking Network, and other key programs that protect public and environmental health. This unprecedented move is deeply troubling. Eliminating these programs will cause harm to everyday Americans, and, instead of increasing efficiency, will actively undermine the impact of other federal, state, and local programs.

There are over 500,000 children in the U.S. who have blood lead levels at or above the CDC’s reference value. That’s equivalent to nearly 24,000 kindergarten classrooms full of kids with preventable lead exposure that may hinder their ability to learn and thrive. The CDC program is the main way that funding to identify and serve these children gets to state and local health departments [read more]….