Healthy Housing News

Policy & Legislation

• Many state Medicaid programs fall short of adequate home intervention coverage for asthma care, according to results released by the American Lung Association’s Asthma Care Coverage Project that tracks state Medicaid programs’ coverage of asthma care.

• The CDC has issued a list of Hi-5 (Health Impact in 5 Years) interventions—including financial supports for low income homeowners to ensure safe and habitable homes— that can improve community health within 5 years.

• HUD announced more than $52 million in new Lead Based Paint Hazard Control grant funding to 23 local and state government agencies last month, including a $1.2 million grant to the City of Jackson, Mississippi, a GHHI site.

• U.S. Senators Bob Menendez and Dick Durbin called on the EPA to update its lead hazard standards in an effort to protect children from lead exposure.

State & Local

• Toledo became the first Ohio city to enact a law requiring some rental properties built before 1978 to be inspected and deemed “lead-safe” before they can be leased to tenants.

• The Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice released its investigation of the Baltimore Police Department. Within the report the burden of lead poisoning disproportionally affecting poor, African-American communities is addressed, noting that Baltimore has nearly three times the national rate of lead poisoning among children.

• More than 5,300 people have signed an online petition calling on Cleveland-based Sherwin Williams and Pittsburgh’s PPG Industries, two of the nation’s largest paint producers, to stop making lead paint for sale abroad.

• L.L. Bean recalled children’s water bottles due to lead content. The Freeport-based outfitter L.L. Bean is offering a full refund on the 6,700 bottles that were sold.

Pay for Success

• Up to $2.8 million more is available from Obama Administration for Pay for Success (PFS) feasibility projects through the U.S. Department of Education. The new grant competition is a PFS Feasibility Pilot opportunity for state, local and tribal governments to explore how to use Pay for Success to expand access to proven programs. Learn more.

• The federal Corporation for National and Community Service and the Veterans Administration will award a grant of up to $3.0MM to a grantee to serve as an outcomes payor in a Pay for Success project, to achieve positive outcomes for veterans struggling with PTSD and employment issues.  Application deadline: 9/14/16

• The Social Finance global network has launched its first white paper on the state of the social impact bond market, or Pay for Success projects.