June 13, 2016
The Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced that June is the first-ever Healthy Homes Month, and is working to raise awareness of hazards in the home including lead-based paint, asbestos, and ways to make the home a healthier environment.
According to a press release at the HUD official site (HUD.gov), “Most Americans spend up to 90 percent of their time indoors, exposing them to home health and safety hazards ranging from asthma triggers to potentially deadly pollutants like asbestos and lead-based paint.
To reinforce the connection between a family’s health and their homes, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is declaring this June as the first-ever National Healthy Homes Month.”
The program was initiated by the HUD Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes (OLHCHH), and is designed to “educate families of National Healthy Homes Month graphic potential health hazards in a home, and empower them to create the healthiest home possible for their family”.
The first year’s theme is, Everyone Deserves a Safe and Healthy Home, and was built around the idea that many spend a great deal of their time indoors.
“National Healthy Homes Month calls attention to the fact that health and home safety are attainable for all,” said Michelle Miller, Acting Director of HUD’s Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes. “We are working closely with our federal partners, and many other organizations, to highlight the dangers of residential hazards to everyone, but especially children and other vulnerable populations in low income households.”
Part of this first-ever Healthy Homes Month initiative is a Texas conference hosted by HUD and the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA).
The National Healthy Homes Educational Conference runs from June 13-16, 2016 in San Antonio. “The State of Big Ideas: Moving Environmental Health Outside the Box” conference brings 1,200 environmental health and healthy housing professionals together, “for an in-depth look at some of the most important issues facing the nation such as water quality, healthy housing and communities, asthma, emergency preparedness and more” according to the HUD official site.
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