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 Award winning collaboration (NACCHO, EPA)

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

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

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