Resources by Topic or Issue

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Asthma Community Network
This online network provides a wealth of information and resources for community-based asthma programs and organizations that sponsor them—including representatives of health plans and providers, government health and environmental agencies, nonprofits, coalitions, schools, and more. Asthma Community Network members have real-time access to other registered programs and their best practices; cutting-edge Internet tools to facilitate collaboration, problem solving, and learning between leaders of asthma programs; and the most current strategies for transforming a program into a thriving and comprehensive asthma management resource. Members can explore podcasts and webinars highlighting the specific scope of services some home-based asthma service delivery programs are choosing to provide and learn more about creating a program or service that can adapt to the different needs of their client base. [url; ACN]

How Maine’s Public Housing Authorities Became 100% Smoke-Free
In this Asthma Community Network podcast, listeners will learn how to replicate the success of the Maine Smoke-Free Housing Coalition, which—by engaging both tenants and property owners—became the first coalition in the nation to set statewide smoke-free public housing policies. [url; ACN, 2011]

Asthma Disparities in America
Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America’s webpage highlights their report, Asthma Disparities in America: A Roadmap to Reducing Burden on Racial and Ethnic Minorities, which describes how asthma affects Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous Americans. [url; AAFA, 2020]

CDC: Most Recent Asthma Data
Using data from national and state surveillance systems administered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), these tables feature the latest national and state statistics on the burden of asthma among children and adults. [url; CDC, 2019]

CDC NCHS: Asthma FastStats
The Center for Disease Control’s National Center for Health Statistics page contains links to a range of national statistics on asthma prevalence, healthcare utilization, and disparities. [url; CDC, 2022]

The Asthma Mitigation Project: Final Evaluation Report 
Administered by the Center at Sierra Health Foundation, with funding from the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS), the Asthma Mitigation Project funded 28 organizations to provide comprehensive asthma education and environmental asthma trigger mitigation through home visits using a culturally responsive, participant-centered, and holistic approach. The initiative added to the body evidence in support of the efficacy of asthma home visiting services, and influenced DHCS’s decision to incorporate these services within Medi-Cal. Recently, the Center released the Final Evaluation Report, which celebrates the project’s accomplishments and offers valuable recommendations for the future of this work. [pdf; CSHF, 2023]

Unlocking the Power of Home-Based Asthma Services: Model Health Benefit Packages
A collaboration between NCHH and Regional Asthma Management and Prevention, this tool equips managed care organizations (MCOs) or other healthcare payers with the information they need to improve asthma management among their enrollees by ensuring the provision of asthma home visiting services. It also addresses the key roles that other community, state, and federal stakeholders play in motivating and supporting healthcare payers in this effort. The tool describes the scope, staffing, and services associated with home-based asthma services that identify and address environmental asthma triggers in the home environment. The tool includes tiers of services (e.g., from a very basic set of services to more premium sets of services) to provide a range of options for payers at different levels of readiness to provide home-based asthma services and includes recommendations to support action from a range of critical stakeholders. [pdf; NCHH/RAMP, 2022]

Building Systems to Sustain Home-Based Asthma Services
In collaboration with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), NCHH developed this e-learning and technical assistance platform to support the launch and growth of large-scale, evidence-based, sustainable asthma home visiting programs. With guidance on topics such as Medicaid reimbursement opportunities and other financing options, developing a business case, scaling up, referrals and eligibility, staffing and training, supplies and services, community resources, and evaluation and reporting, each of the primary 10 e-learning modules offers a deeper look into some of the topics and strategies to consider while working to design and implement home-based asthma services. Numerous supplemental resources are linked throughout. [url; NCHH, 2022]

Healthy Home
The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America developed this interactive healthier home module and the Asthma-Friendly Home Checklist with steps to identify and reduce triggers. [url; AAFA]

Financing In-Home Asthma Care
Asthma Community Network’s “Financing In-Home Asthma Care” microsite “focuses on delivering and paying for in-home asthma care to improve outcomes for children with out-of-control asthma.” This site explores new opportunities for financing evidence-based in-home asthma care created by healthcare policy changes and the work necessary to provide effective, sustainable home-based asthma care. [url; ACN]

Sustainable Financing Mechanisms Case Studies: Montana’s Asthma Home Visiting Program
This is a case study of the Montana Asthma Home Visiting Program (MAP), offered by the Montana Asthma Control Program (MACP). This program was designed to address basic asthma pathophysiology and asthma medications, and it has a significant home environmental focus to address asthma triggers. This resource contains information on financing mechanisms, program overview, program operations, outcomes, evaluations, and lessons learned. [pdf; NCHH, 2019]

Leading the Way to Better Breathing: Managed Care Organizations and Asthma Home Visiting Services in California—A Tool for MCOs and Partners
Published by Regional Asthma Management and Prevention, Leading the Way to Better Breathing highlights the benefits of asthma home visiting services, from their ability to achieve triple-aim goals to supporting quality improvement initiatives to addressing more “upstream” health determinants. The tool also explains opportunities that managed care organizations can take advantage of to make support for asthma home visiting services as easier and more efficient, including some best-practice examples from the field. [pdf, RAMP, 2019]

Asthma Capitals 2022: The Most Challenging Places to Live with Asthma
This report from the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America raises awareness about the nationwide impacts of asthma. Asthma Capitals ranks the 100 largest cities according to critical health outcomes, including asthma prevalence, emergency department visits due to asthma, and asthma mortality and examines other risk factors influencing health outcomes. [pdf; AAFA, 2022]

Advancing City-Level Healthy Housing: Policies, Programs and Practices in Asthma and Lead—Strategies for Progress
The National League of Cities published this report, authored by the George Washington University School of Public Health, highlighting the critical role of city leadership tools in developing successful approaches to healthy housing, such as proactive rental inspection and rent withholding mechanisms. The report also outlines common challenges faced by local healthy housing efforts and key strategies to overcome and advance them. [pdf; NLC, 2020]

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Boston Housing Authority: Overview of the Outcome of the Healthy Pest Free Housing Initiative
This Boston Housing Authority (BHA) report details how tenant health and stress, pest infestation levels, pesticide use, and tenant tobacco use have changed in BHA public housing units after the implementation of integrated pest management (IPM) practices. Overall, the results were positive in that reported health and stress levels improved, cockroach and mouse infestations decreased, and pesticide use decreased as a result. It was also seen that pest control work requests decreased after IPM implementation and that this approach requires more than one year of implementation to be truly effective. Although the costs of implementation increased more than expected over the three years the study was conducted, it was decided that the benefits outweighed the costs. [url; BHA]

Healthy Homes: What You Need to Know About Pests and Pesticides to Protect Your Family’s Health
The Boston Public Health Commission offers this informational guide to families and tenants for addressing pests using an accessible, integrated pest management approach as an alternative to pesticides. This guide includes tips such as removing pests’ food supply, cutting off water sources, sealing pests out, and erasing pests’ travel routes. The guide also includes printable instruction cards that highlight healthy-home approaches to addressing pests. [pdf; BPHC, 2006]

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Smokefree Housing Ordinance: A Model California Ordinance Regulating Smoking in Multiunit Residences
ChangeLab Solutions developed this model ordinance to help California cities and counties limit exposure to secondhand smoke in multiunit residences, such as apartment buildings, condominium complexes, senior housing, and single-resident occupancy hotels. This model ordinance is very broad and can be used to limit smoking in all types of multiunit dwelling places, from hotels to long-term healthcare facilities to apartments and condominiums. [doc, CLS, 2018]

Indoor Air Quality in Rental Dwellings: State Laws Addressing Radon, Mold, and Secondhand Smoke
With renters occupying almost a third of the United States’ housing units, state policymakers can advance healthy housing goals by strengthening their laws and regulations that establish minimum conditions in rental housing. Rental housing laws and regulations can address known health risks more directly by establishing precise requirements for specific indoor pollutants and are essential in reducing exposures to indoor air pollutants for vulnerable populations. While policymakers have been active in tackling certain IAQ issues in the rental housing context, such as with lead-based paint abatement and installation of carbon monoxide alarms, state laws relating to other important indoor pollutants are less developed. This resource discusses three of these pollutants—radon, mold, and secondhand smoke—and state legislation that has been adopted to date. [url; ELI, 2021]

EPA Federal Interagency Committee on Indoor Air Quality
This page provides information and background on the Federal Interagency Committee on Indoor Air Quality (CIAQ). Additionally, CIAQ meeting materials and recorded webinars are available on this page for visitors to access and view. Topics covered in past webinars on IAQ are broad; webinars have touched on the effects of wildfires, mold, social determinants of health, and e-cigarettes on IAQ. [url; EPA, 2023]

Healthy Homes Manual: Smoke-Free Policies in Multiunit Housing
Published by the Healthy Homes and Lead Poisoning Prevention Branch of the National Center for Environmental Health’s Division of Emergency and Environmental Health Services, Smoke-Free Policies in Multiunit Housing is intended to frame issues and provide guidance for state and local healthy homes programs working to reduce secondhand smoke exposure in multiunit housing. Included in the manual are best practices, field-tested strategies, recommendations, and tools, drawn from peer-reviewed research and practitioner interviews. While readers may choose from among the described strategies, it’s important to note that the strategies are interconnected and mutually supportive. [url; CDC, 2011]

How Maine’s Public Housing Authorities Became 100% Smoke-Free
In this Asthma Community Network podcast, listeners will learn how to replicate the success of the Maine Smoke-Free Housing Coalition, which—by engaging both tenants and property owners—became the first coalition in the nation to set statewide smoke-free public housing policies. [url; ACN, 2011]

Advocacy Action Guide: A Toolkit for Strategic Policy Advocacy Campaigns
Published jointly by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and Consumers International, Advocacy Action Guide provides tools for policy advocacy campaigns. The guide covers a broad range of topics, such as the specific elements of a policy advocacy campaign, identifying clear policy objectives, and concluding a campaign. [pdf; Tobacco-Free Kids]

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Wood Stoves

Woodsmoke Reduction Program
Implemented by the California Air Pollution Control Officers Association (CAPCOA) in coordination with local air pollution control districts or air quality management districts, the Woodsmoke Reduction Program offers financial incentives to homeowners to “replace old, inefficient, and highly polluting wood stoves, wood inserts, or fireplaces with cleaner burning and more efficient home heating devices.” The legislation also authorizes money from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) to be appropriated for incentives offered as part of the Program. State Budgets appropriated $5,000,000 in FY 2021-22 to CARB to incentivize replacement of old, uncertified wood burning devices with cleaner options. The Woodsmoke Reduction Program is part of the California Climate Investments program, which puts cap-and-trade dollars to work reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving public health and the environment—particularly in disadvantaged communities—and strengthening California’s economy. [url; CARB]

Indoor Wood Burning: Policies to Reduce Emissions and Improve Public Health
This comprehensive publication from Environmental Law Institute discusses various enacted policies for reducing harmful emissions from burning wood indoors. [pdf; ELI, 2021]

Forest Economy Series 2: Heating Up—The Outlook for Wood Heat
This 90-minute webinar from the Northern Forest Center covers the current state of the wood heat sector in northern New England and New York, from domestic wood heat policy and technology to pellet mill production and commercial/institutional wood heat systems. [url; NFC, 2022]

Wood Smoke
EPA’s webpage provides summary information on the indoor air quality concerns surrounding wood smoke and links to EPA research and safety resources. [url; EPA, 2022]

Burn Wise Program
EPA’s Burn Wise program promotes the importance of burning the right wood, the right way, in the right appliance. This page provides resources for homeowners on such subjects as wood-burning appliances, recreational fires, and the impacts of wood smoke on resident health. [url; EPA, 2023]

Gas Stoves

The Flipside Report: A White Paper on Targeted Geographic Electrification in California’s Gas Transition
This equity-based environmental justice proposal pertaining to the transition from natural gas to electrification considers how electrification policies impacts both indoor and outdoor air quality. The Flipside Report proposes a geographical decision framework for the transition of buildings away from on-site natural gas combustion to all-electric infrastructure that could simultaneously ease the pollution burdens of environmental and social justice communities and also highlights existing frameworks for decarbonization and electrification. [pdf; BDC]

Reducing Exposure to Cooking Pollutants: Policies and Practices to Improve Air Quality in Homes
This Environmental Law Institute report highlights the importance of local exhaust ventilation in reducing the negative impacts of cooking on indoor air quality. The report covers available technologies that can be implemented, describes current building codes and how certain states and jurisdictions are augmenting them to include regulations on exhaust ventilation, and explores the potential for green building standards to improve indoor air quality in new buildings. The report also provides avenues of improving kitchen ventilation in existing homes, such as through strengthening housing codes and utilizing landlord-tenant laws, the Weatherization Assistance Program, and other existing programs and grants for housing and health. [pdf; ELI, 2021]

General Residential Combustion Resource

Literature Review on the Impacts of Residential Combustion: Final Report
This report from the American Lung Association and ICF discusses the health and environmental impacts of indoor residential combustion, including those of methane gas appliances, wood-burning stoves, and fireplaces. [url; ALA, 2022]

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PM_2.5

Indoor Exposure to Fine Particulate Matter and Practical Mitigation Approaches: Proceedings of a Workshop
To better understand the sources of indoor PM_2.5, the possible health effects of exposure to indoor PM_2.5, and engineering approaches and interventions to reduce those exposure risks, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a virtual workshop, Indoor Exposure to Fine Particulate Matter and Practical Mitigation Approaches, in April 2021 that focused on exposures that occur in residential and school buildings and on existing and practical mitigation technologies and approaches. This publication summarizes the presentation and discussion of the workshop. [url; National Academies]

Community/Outdoor Air Quality

PurpleAir Real-Time Air Quality Map
This web map is set to display real-time readings from public outdoor PurpleAir sensors across North America. Though not exhaustive, these measurements are helpful in seeing general trends in indoor air quality in certain areas of the country. [url; Purple Air]

Cleaner Air, Cleaner Communities: Six Steps to Develop Environmentally Just State Implementation Plans
Published by the Environmental Justice Leadership Forum on Climate Change (facilitated by WE ACT for Environmental Justice), this guide outlines steps for developing environmentally just state implementation plans (SIPs). The steps are to (1) assess social and environmental disparities, (2) structure meaningful community engagement, (3) identify community needs, (4) evaluate community impacts and benefits, (5) develop community responsive SIP, and (6) engage the community in implementation. The guide also emphasizes cultural engagement to reduce subconscious bias and includes a checklist to complete when formulating a SIP. [pdf; WE ACT, 2018]

Reducing Indoor Exposure to Particle Pollution from Outdoor Sources: Policies and Programs for Improving Air Quality in Homes
This report by the Environmental Law Institute explores ways that indoor exposure to outdoor particulate matter pollution can be reduced in both new and existing homes by reducing infiltration of outdoor air, providing adequate outside air for ventilation, and ensuring adequate filtration. For new homes, the report considers how high-efficiency filtration (HEF) can be implemented along with related building practices and how model building codes can be augmented to include filtration needs, provides an example of how California has augmented their codes to include HEF requirements and explores how green building codes can increase adoption of HEF in new, affordable housing. Also included are potential practices to reduce exposure to particulate matter from high-traffic roads. For existing homes, the report discusses strengthening minimum property maintenance standards to enhance filtration implementation, covers potential ways of accessing funding sources to target filtration, and also provides an example of innovative funding for air filtration in California. [pdf; ELI, 2020]

Air Cleaners and Air Filters in the Home
This webpage presents EPA publications and other resources that provide information about portable air cleaners and HVAC and furnace filters commonly used in homes. The short consumer guide covers portable air cleaner, furnace, and HVAC filters used in a home. It includes tips for selecting a portable air cleaner, furnace filter, or HVAC filter. The longer technical guide focuses on air cleaners for residential use. In addition to providing general information about the types of pollutants affected by air cleaners, it discusses the types of air-cleaning devices and technologies available, metrics that can be used to compare air-cleaning devices, the effectiveness of air-cleaning devices in removing indoor air pollutants, and information from intervention studies on the effects that air cleaners can have on health and on health markers. [url; EPA, 2022]

Sustainable Financing Mechanisms Case Study: New York’s Healthy Neighborhood Program
This NCHH case study provides an overview of New York’s Healthy Neighborhoods Program (HNP), including the basic structure for program operations, outcomes/evaluation, and the evolution of financing mechanisms since the program’s inception in 1985. [pdf; NCHH, 2019]

Wildfires and Other Natural Disasters

Wildfires and Indoor Air Quality (IAQ)
This webpage provides information for consumers needing to reduce indoor exposure to wildfire smoke at home. Wildfire smoke is a complex mixture of particles and gases; however, this webpage focuses on reducing exposure to the primary pollutant of public health concern, PM_2.5. [url; EPA, 2022]

Wildfire Smoke: A Guide for Public Health Officials and Related Resources
This webpage provides state, tribal, and local public health officials with the information they need to be prepared for smoke events and, when wildfire smoke is present, to communicate health risks and take measures to protect the public. Although developed for public health officials, the information in this document may be useful to many other groups including health professionals, air quality officials, and members of the public. This webpage also links to changes to the guide, updated information made available after publication of the most recent version of the guide, and fact sheets summarizing key information from the guide for the public. [url; AirNow, 2019]

Planning Framework for Protecting Commercial Building Occupants from Smoke During Wildfire Events
In their Planning Framework, the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) recommends heating, ventilation, air conditioning (HVAC), and other building measures to minimize occupant exposures and health impacts from smoke during wildfire and prescribed burn smoke events. The recommendations are designed for buildings that use HVAC systems with air-handling units that bring outside air into buildings or recirculate indoor air. Planning Framework is aimed specifically for commercial buildings, schools, and other similar building types and is not intended for single-family homes. Wildfire smoke is a complex mixture of particles and gases; however, the document focuses on reducing exposure to the primary pollutant of public health concern, PM_2.5. [pdf; ASHRAE]

Resources for Flood Cleanup and Indoor Air Quality
This webpage from the Environmental Protection Agency collects various resources related to flood cleanup and indoor air quality, including guidance documents, webinars, and fact sheets. [url; EPA, 2022]

Emergencies and IAQ
This EPA webpage provides an overview of the impacts of various emergency scenarios on IAQ and health and compiles links to guidance and tools for each scenario. The resources are available in English and nine additional languages. [url; EPA]

Finding Funding to Fix Radon Problems NEW
This webinar from NCHH and the American Lung Association discusses federal funding opportunities that can help support efforts to improve indoor air quality, including radon testing and mitigation. The webinar also provides information about the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program as a mechanism to advance this kind of work and features examples from community representatives currently using CDBG funding to address radon. [mp4; ALA/NCHH, 2024]

Resources for RRNC [Radon-Resistant New Construction] Code Adoption
This Kansas State University webpage includes numerous background resources relating to radon-resistant new construction for state and tribal radon programs. Two webinars highlight state and tribal code adoption case studies and share ideas for partnerships and building capacity to engage in radon code adoption work. [url; KSU]

Building Partnerships to Increase Radon Awareness
This in-depth session covers radon education programs and the diverse partnerships developed to address radon concerns in Georgia and North Carolina and offers suggestions for finding radon collaborative partners in other states. [url; HUD]

CDC EPHT: Indicators and Data on Radon Testing
This web map data tracker comprises data on pre-mitigation radon levels and radon tests conducted pre- and post-mitigation. The map can be configured to show these criteria from the information reported by states or labs. The measurements can be viewed at the county level for select states or nationwide level for select states. This information is potentially helpful in understanding the historical landscape of radon testing and radon levels in a given state. [url; CDC, 2022]

State Radon Program Fact Sheets
Kansas State University’s National Radon Program Services provides fact sheets for each state. Also included are radon levels, enacted legislation, and/or legislative goals of each state. [url; KSU]

National Environmental Public Health Tracking: Radon Data
The National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network has compiled radon testing data at the state and county levels for most of the continental United States. [url; CDC, 2022]

National Radon Action Plan 2021-2025: Eliminating Preventable Lung Cancer from Radon in the United States by Expanding Protections for All Communities and Buildings 
The National Radon Action Plan 2021-2025 is the third installment of a strategy anchored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to accelerate action on radon. The NRAP Leadership Council has sustained its collaboration to guide national radon action from 2015 through 2025; their goal is to find, fix, and prevent actionable indoor radon levels eight million buildings by 2025, to prevent approximately 3,500 lung cancer deaths annually, and to save 250,000 lives cumulatively in those buildings by century’s end. [pdf; NRAP, 2022]

Reflections on the National Radon Action Plan’s (NRAP) Progress 2015-2020
Published by Radon Leaders, a coterie of experts on the topic, this progress report reflects on the accomplishments of the National Radon Action Plan (NRAP) between 2015 and 2020. The report details examples of how the NRAP has been effective in building radon testing and reduction into systemic building construction and maintenance processes. It also provides examples of how radon testing has become more commonplace in healthy home standards, despite the continuing need for implementing tax incentive strategies. In addition, the report notes the increased prevalence of certification requirements for radon measurement and mitigation workers. Finally, the report also notes how awareness of the risk that radon poses has grown; leaders now work across sectors and at different levels of government to strengthen this awareness. [pdf; Radon Leaders, 2020]

National Radon Action Plan: A Strategy for Saving Lives
The National Radon Action Plan (NRAP) is the product of a collaborative effort between the American Lung Association and several other government and national organizations. The NRAP aims to eliminate radon-induced lung cancer by building on the previously established 2010 Federal Radon Action Plan. While the federal plan highlighted the importance of radon, provided incentives and support, and created demand for radon service professionals, the NRAP hopes to fill the gap of creating transformational change. The NRAP highlights a build-in approach, which embeds radon-reduction practices as the norm in behaviors, industry standards, and public policy. [pdf; NCHH, 2015]

Current ANSI/AARST National Radon Consensus Standards
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and several other federal and state agencies use the ANSI/AARST national consensus standards. National consensus standards are available for all types of buildings. [url; AARST, 2019]

Indoor Air Quality in Rental Dwellings: State Laws Addressing Radon, Mold, and Secondhand Smoke
With renters occupying almost a third of the United States’ housing units, state policymakers can advance healthy housing goals by strengthening their laws and regulations that establish minimum conditions in rental housing. Rental housing laws and regulations can address known health risks more directly by establishing precise requirements for specific indoor pollutants and are essential in reducing exposures to indoor air pollutants for vulnerable populations. While policymakers have been active in tackling certain IAQ issues in the rental housing context, such as with lead-based paint abatement and installation of carbon monoxide alarms, state laws relating to other important indoor pollutants are less developed. This resource discusses three of these pollutants—radon, mold, and secondhand smoke—and state legislation that has been adopted to date. [url; ELI, 2021]

EPA State Indoor Radon Grants (SIRG) Program and Resources
This EPA webpage provides an overview of the SIRG program including general information, annual, activities report applying and managing grants, Quality Assurance Project Plan (QAPP) checklist and templates, and more. [url; EPA, 2022]

Citizen Science
This program from the Tennessee Department of Conservation and Energy enables citizens to send their home radon testing kits to the CDC as contributions to scientific research. The collected data helps to map out radon levels throughout the state. [url; State of Tennessee]

State and Tribal Indoor Radon Grants (SIRG) Program: A Fact Sheet for Tribes
The Environmental Protection Agency published this resource for new and existing tribal grantees as well as regional tribal air coordinators. A Fact Sheet for Tribes outlines tribal eligibility, shares background on allowable costs for tribal radon programs, and provides examples of successful tribal radon projects. [pdf; EPA, 2022]

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Washington State Weatherization plus Health Program Pilot: Pierce County Healthy Homes Case Study
This case study outlines how Pierce County Healthy Homes (PCHH) Partnership—with Weatherization plus Health (Wx+H) program funding—delivered integrated healthy homes services, including community health worker (CHW) engagement and home visits as well as energy efficiency and healthy homes upgrades to 53 low-income households in which 78 occupants with respiratory health concerns (such as asthma and COPD) resided. Initial results showed promising success in encouraging action and improving clients’ health and quality of life with respiratory disease. [pdf; WSU, 2019]

Sustainable Financing Mechanisms Case Studies: Washington’s Weatherization plus Health (WxPlusHealth)
This case study provides an overview of Washington’s pilot program, Basic Wx+H, which leverages state and local resources and support to expand measures and services available through the Low Income Weatherization program. This was made possible when the Washington (WA) Department of Commerce set aside $4.3 million to develop a Weatherization plus Health Program (Wx+H). This case study includes financing mechanisms, program overview, program operations, outcomes and evaluations, and lessons learned. [pdf; NCHH, 2019]

Sustainable Financing Mechanisms Case Studies: New Jersey’s ReHEET (Residential Health, Energy, and Environmental Transformation)
This case study provides an overview of New Jersey’s ReHEET (Residential Health, Energy, and Environmental Transformation) program. This project is funded by the New Jersey Neighborhood Revitalization Tax Credit (NRTC). ReHEET was created to pilot the joint provision of weatherization, structural repair, and healthy homes services in Trenton. This case study includes financing mechanisms, program operations, outcomes and evaluations, and lessons learned. [pdf; NCHH, 2019]]

Using Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Funding to Improve Indoor Air Quality: A Technical Assistance Tool NEW
NCHH created this technical assistance brief to support local and state leaders (e.g., governments, agencies, programs, advocates, et cetera) in understanding how Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding can be used to accomplish housing repairs designed to create healthier, safer indoor environments. [pdf; NCHH, 2024].

EPA’s Indoor AirPlus Program
Indoor AirPlus is a voluntary partnership and labeling program that helps new home builders improve indoor air quality by requiring construction practices and product specifications that minimize exposure to airborne pollutants and contaminants. Together, Indoor AirPlus and partners promote indoor air quality in new homes as an easy and desirable option for homebuyers to help protect their health and the environment. Partners receive public recognition for their involvement in Indoor AirPlus and their role in protecting human health and the environment. Technical assistance, resources, tools, and marketing materials are available at no cost. [url; EPA, 2022]

The Health and Housing Starter Kit
ChangeLab Solutions’ Health and Housing Starter Kit guides local institutions taking their initial actions toward creating bold, innovative health and housing initiatives. Included in the kit are case studies for institutions that have worked on health and housing initiatives for more than a decade. Another feature, “Building Blocks,” explores a variety of strategies and offers advice for forming partnerships with communities and other institutions, developing indicators to understand and evaluate the efforts, and crafting messages to build support. [url/pdf; CLS, 2018]

Environmental Health State Bill Tracking Database
The National Conference of State Legislatures tracks environmental health bills that have been introduced across the United States, its territories, and the District of Columbia. Information on current bills is updated each Tuesday, and legislation can be searched back to 2009. Environmental health legislation addresses environmental factors that may harm human health or the ecological balances essential to long-term human health and environmental quality, whether in the natural or human-made environment. This tool can help stakeholders gain a better understanding of a state’s current policies around healthy housing and provide examples of legislation in other localities. [url; NCSL, 2022]

Improving Health of Housing in South King County
This paper, prepared for the Housing Development Consortium of Seattle King County (HDC), examines policies to improve health and housing quality in South King County, WA. The authors conducted a national literature review to determine best practices to address unhealthy housing and interviewed key officials and stakeholders from cities in South King County to understand local programs and their effectiveness better. Based on their findings, the authors developed a set of best practices recommended to be implemented in South King County to improve housing conditions and related health outcomes. [pdf; HDC, 2015]

State of Connecticut Public House Bill No. 5209: “An Act Imposing a Surcharge on Certain Insurance Policies and Establishing the Healthy Homes Fund”
This act imposes a $12 surcharge on some homeowners’ insurance policies to fund the Crumbling Foundations Assistance Fund’s assistance for homeowners with pyrrhotite-related concrete foundation damage, grants to certain homeowners in New Haven and Woodbridge with structural damage from subsidence or water filtration, and lead, radon, and other contaminant abatement activities. [pdf; State of Connecticut, 2018]

AARST Policy Work
AARST’s webpage includes links to federal, state, and local policy as well as building codes and standards. [url; AARST]

Indoor Air Quality in Rental Dwellings: State Laws Addressing Radon, Mold, and Secondhand Smoke
With renters occupying almost a third of the United States’ housing units, state policymakers can advance healthy housing goals by strengthening their laws and regulations that establish minimum conditions in rental housing. Rental housing laws and regulations can address known health risks more directly by establishing precise requirements for specific indoor pollutants and are essential in reducing exposures to indoor air pollutants for vulnerable populations. While policymakers have been active in tackling certain IAQ issues in the rental housing context, such as with lead-based paint abatement and installation of carbon monoxide alarms, state laws relating to other important indoor pollutants are less developed. This resource discusses three of these pollutants—radon, mold, and secondhand smoke—and state legislation that has been adopted to date. [url; ELI, 2021]

Air Quality Improvement: Guide for Local Governments
Published by the National Association of Counties (NACo), the only national organization representing county governments in the U.S., this guide is designed for local governments to craft and implement policies that improve air quality. Their framework is drawn from an analysis of numerous local governments across the U.S. and their efforts to improve air quality. It highlights air awareness programs, woodstove programs, public transportation, commuter benefits programs, neighborhood connectivity, energy efficiency, tree-planting programs, infill redevelopment, greenways and open spaces, air monitoring, and air emergencies, air quality partnerships, and provides an air quality glossary. [pdf; NACo, 2007]

Healthy Planning Guide
Published by the Bay Area Regional Health Inequities Initiative and ChangeLab Solutions, Healthy Planning Guide was intended to help public health and planning departments collaborate on strategies to promote healthier communities. Each page links health risks to aspects of the built environment, outlining ways to ensure that neighborhoods are designed to support health equity and community well-being. [pdf; BARHII/CLS, 2009]

National Healthy Housing Standard
The National Healthy Housing Standard is a living tool for property owners, elected officials, code agency staff, and all who are concerned about housing as a platform for health. Individually and together, it constitutes minimum performance standards for a safe and healthy home, providing health-based measures to fill gaps where no property maintenance policy exists and also serving as a complement to the International Property Maintenance Code and other housing policies already in use by local and state governments and federal agencies. [url; NCHH, 2014]

Healthy Housing Principles Certificate
BPI’s healthy housing certification program is designed for healthcare workers, policymakers, trade professionals, real estate professionals, and more. The program analyzes cleanliness, dampness, pests, contaminants, thermal comfort, maintenance, ventilation, and safety. [url; BPI]

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Trainings
CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health offers a quartet of indoor air quality (IAQ) training options available for purchase, including a four-hour “highly interactive” introductory course titled Building Air Quality—Action Plan: A Guide for Building Owners and Facility Managers. This course introduces the causes of IAQ problems, provides suggestions on diagnosing and mitigating IAQ problems, and shows how to prevent them from occurring in the first place. [url; CDC, 2014]

Cleaner Air, Cleaner Communities: Six Steps to Develop Environmentally Just State Implementation Plans
Published by the Environmental Justice Leadership Forum on Climate Change (facilitated by WE ACT for Environmental Justice), this guide outlines steps for developing environmentally just state implementation plans (SIPs). The steps are to (1) assess social and environmental disparities, (2) structure meaningful community engagement, (3) identify community needs, (4) evaluate community impacts and benefits, (5) develop community responsive SIP, and (6) engage the community in implementation. The guide also emphasizes cultural engagement to reduce subconscious bias and includes a checklist to complete when formulating a SIP. [pdf; WE ACT, 2018]

EPA Federal Interagency Committee on Indoor Air Quality
This page provides information and background on the Federal Interagency Committee on Indoor Air Quality (CIAQ). Additionally, CIAQ meeting materials and recorded webinars are available on this page for visitors to access and view. Topics covered in past webinars on IAQ are broad; webinars have touched on the effects of wildfires, mold, social determinants of health, and e-cigarettes on IAQ. [url; EPA, 2023]

Energy Savings plus Health: IAQ Guidelines for Single-Family Renovations
This EPA-developed guide provides a set of best practices for improving indoor air quality in conjunction with energy upgrade work in homes. [url; EPA, 2021]

EPA: Indoor Air Quality (IAQ)
EPA’s indoor air quality landing page links to various informational resources and strategies to improve IAQ and aims to educate the public about indoor environmental issues, including health risks and how human exposures can be reduced. [url; EPA, 2023]

Health@Home: High-Performance Housing Rehabilitation Guidelines
These guidelines from HUD were developed to help affordable housing developers address the principles of healthy housing when conducting home repairs and rehab. The standards in the guidelines are organized according to eight healthy housing principles recognized by HUD plus an additional principle of healthy living and active design. [url; HUD]

Alliance for Green Heat
Alliance for Green Heat’s site is a great tool for anyone seeking to address issues with their residential heating systems. Available on the site is user-friendly information about available low-carbon, renewable residential heating technology, relevant federal and state policy, tax credits and incentives, various educational materials, and a newsletter. [url; AGH]

Air and Healthy Homes
The Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium’s (ANTHC) Air and Healthy Homes program “provides education and tools to help residents improve their home environment by improving indoor air quality and reducing indoor air pollutants.” Within this program, a tribal air quality program exists that has funded tribes to undertake air quality projects in rural tribal communities since 2011. Projects are encouraged to include creative ways to address air quality concerns. The award value varies between $5,000-$25,000. [url; ANTHC]

Strategies Toward Sustainability: More Financing Mechanisms for Healthy Homes Services
This report summarizes the findings from NCHH based on interviews with representatives from seven states (Massachusetts, Maine, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, and Washington) that used a variety of strategies to fund home-based interventions outside of the healthcare system. The interviews took place between 2016 and 2018, and they developed 12 case studies that can provide insight into states’ motivation to adopt the funding mechanism, the health and other outcomes that resulted, and the lessons states learned during implementation. [pdf, NCHH, 2019]

Tribal Indoor Air Funding Directory
The Tribal Indoor Air Funding Directory is an initiative of the Tribal Healthy Homes Network (THHN), an EPA-funded, tribally led network established in 2009. THHN works to reduce the health risks associated with indoor air hazards through education, outreach, training, and tribally led research with and for tribes across the country. Working with staff, interns, and partners, THHN developed the Funding Directory database to provide current, accessible, and centralized information on indoor air quality funding, a high-priority issue for tribes. [url; TIAFD]

Establishing and Running a Local Home Repair Program
This technical assistance brief from NCHH provides an overview for local home repair programs of how these programs are typically funded and operated. Many of these programs cover IAQ-related home repairs. [pdf; NCHH, 2022]

Reimbursement Strategies for Healthy Homes Services Issue Brief: Considerations for State Medicaid Offices
This issue brief from the Green & Healthy Homes Initiative describes state Medicaid strategies for establishing funding pathways for healthy home services. It lays out best practices/models for a healthy homes program and includes a brief cost-benefit analysis of different programs, including lead, asthma, and fall hazards. The brief reviews how states can incorporate quality improvement provisions in their Managed Care contracts or develop waivers that promote healthy housing. [pdf; GHHI, 2022]

National Association of County and City Health Officials: Statement of Policy—Indoor Air Quality
This is a policy position on indoor air quality. It provides a list of policies and actions addressing indoor air quality issues that they support. [pdf; NACCHO, 2018]

Message Guide: Advancing Health and Equity Through Housing
This guide is for anyone working to build support within city government, among key stakeholders, and across the public for healthy housing policies as part of a comprehensive housing strategy. It helps you make the case for healthy housing in general, with messages to customize based on your city’s priority issues, decision-making structure, and specific policy goals. [pdf; NCL, 2021]

Advocacy in Action
National Council of Nonprofits’ page contains resources relating to advocacy skills and lessons learned. It focuses on nonprofit advocacy as an effective tool in advancing missions, improving lives, and strengthening communities. These resources are aimed to inspire you towards everyday advocacy. [url; NCN]

Building Community Resilience Policy and Advocacy Guide
This guide is intended to assist readers in becoming effective policy advocates and educators, offering guidance to help identify and act on policy opportunities. While it focuses on adverse childhood events (ACEs), the frameworks and guidelines can also be applied to indoor air quality efforts. [pdf; BCR, 2018]

A Guide to Proactive Rental Inspections
ChangeLab Solutions’ guide outlines the benefits to both tenants and property owners of proactive rental inspections, challenges and opportunities in program design, and strategies for successful adoption. [pdf; CLS, 2022]

Sustainable Financing Mechanisms Case Studies: Massachusetts’ Prevention and Wellness Trust Fund
This case study describes the Prevention and Wellness Trust Fund (PWTF) of Massachusetts healthcare reform legislation, which seeks to “reduce healthcare costs by preventing chronic conditions.” It is designed to address four priority chronic conditions. This resource describes the pediatric asthma program and has information on financing mechanisms, program operations, outcomes and evaluations, and lessons learned. [pdf, NCHH, 2019]

Do-It-Yourself Healthy Home Check-Up
This resource from the American Lung Association gives homeowners a valuable tool for identifying indoor air quality concerns within their homes. [pdf; ALA, 2022]

Code Comparison Tool
The NCHH Code Comparison Tool gives communities the opportunity to compare their current housing/property maintenance code to the National Healthy Housing Standard and the International Property Maintenance Code. [url; NCHH]

American Lung Association: Public Policy Position—Healthy Air
This page on the American Lung Association website outlines their policy positions regarding healthy air, including their stances on indoor air quality, radon, and healthy air infrastructure. [url; ALA, 2022]