Effective Housing & Health Multi-Sector Collaborations in Boston, MA

• Moderator– Margaret Reid, Boston Public Health Commission

• Panelists– Indira Alvarez, Boston Inspectional Services Dept.– Eugene Barros, Boston Public Health Commission– Dion Irish, Boston Office of Fair Housing and Equity– John Kane, Boston Housing Authority– Megan Sandel, Boston University Schools of

Medicine and Public Health

Timeline of Boston Healthy Homes Collaborations

1999

BPHC establishes

Healthy Housing Office

2005

Breathe Easy at Home is piloted

2006

Healthy Pest Free Housing Initiative

2010

BHA announces

smoke free housing

2012

Rental

Registration and

Inspection Ordinance

2014

Office of Fair

Housing and

Equity

Foundations of our Working Relationships

• What responsibility does each organization have for healthy housing?

• What key functions do we bring to the collaboration?

• How does each organization benefit from this collaboration?

• How we work together? – Facilitating factors? – How have we operationalized our work?

Breathe Easy At Home Partnership• Piloted in 2005, Kick-off 2006• Partnership between Inspectional Services

Department (ISD), Boston Public Health Commission and medical partners like Boston Medical Center

• Medical Providers register and make referrals via internet directly to ISD

• ISD puts updates on website and email• Award winning collaboration (NACCHO, EPA)

0

50

100

150

200

250

16

60

128

176182

171

219

233 238

Breathe Easy at Home Referrals, 2005-2013

2005 PILOT2006 LAUNCH2007 PT Coordinator2008 FT Coordinator20092010201120122013

Year

# o

f re

ferr

als

Healthy Pest Free Public Housing• Supported by W. K. Kellogg Foundation• Partnership between Boston Public Health

Commission, Boston Housing Authority, Committee for Boston Public Housing and Boston University School of Public Health

• Multi-pronged intervention with standardized IPM contracts for developments, resident education, and pesticide buy back

• Reductions in work orders for pests

Smoke Free Public Housing

• Boston Housing Authority began process to go Smoke Free with all rental housing in 2010 and implemented in 2012

• Collaboration between Boston Housing Authority, Boston Public Health Commission and Committee for Boston Public Housing for resident outreach/education

• Boston Public Health Commission also began Smoke free rental housing list serve and technical assistance/training

2006 2008 20100

5

10

15

20

25 23.6

16.4

13

2220.5

23.7

9.48.1

9.8

Current Asthma Among Boston Adults by Housing Type

BHARANeither BHA nor RA

Year

% o

f adu

lt w

ith

asth

ma

Rental Registration and Inspection Ordinance

• In 2012, Boston City Council Passed a Rental Registration and Inspection Ordinance

• Requires annual registration of all 150,000 private rental units in Boston with contact phone number, in state agent

• All units inspected every 5 years• Important advocacy to pass ordinance from

medical providers, tenant advocates, public health partners

Timeline of Boston Healthy Homes Collaborations

1999

BPHC establishes

Healthy Housing Office

2005

Breathe Easy at Home is piloted

2006

Healthy Pest Free Housing Initiative

2010

BHA announces

smoke free housing

2012

Rental

Registration and

Inspection Ordinance

2014

Office of Fair

Housing and

Equity

Office of Fair Housing and Equity

• In 2014, Boston’s Office of Fair Housing was renamed to include Equity

• Includes health equity as an important principle and goal of fair housing

• Protects the rights of the disabled to healthy housing.

• Promotes healthy housing opportunities– Smoke-free housing registry– Resident and landlord outreach

• Home to 25,000 residents

• Section 8 administrator

• IPM policy • Smoke free housing• Healthy design and

construction• Resident education

• BEAH referrals• Assessing patient

for env health• Research• Medical legal

partnership support• Policy advocacy• Grant writing

• Inspection (20,000 yearly)• Rental Ordinance• BEAH inspections

• Data monitoring/collection

• Investigation• Enforcement• Education and outreach• Adopting smoke-free

homes registry

• Health data• Public awareness and

information• Asthma Home Visits• Research and

evaluation• Grant writing• BEAH management

Inspectional Services

Boston Office of Fair Housing and Equity

Boston Housing Authority

Boston Medical Center

Boston Public Health

Commission -Community Residents-Clients-Patients-Advocacy groups-Tenants groups- Public Officials