Healthy Homes

UHAB's Healthy Homes Toolbox (see menu under Healthy Homes) includes model scopes and specifications for buildings where UHAB acts as a third-party developer for the City of New York producing limited-equity cooperatives. These specifications focus on preventative measures in physical safety, lead poisoning, material toxin exposure, and pest management control while incorporating many green, high-performance and sustainable design principals. Beyond the construction materials, the specifications are accompanied by guidelines that address healthier building methods and techniques along with no-cost additional ways of keeping building professionals healthy during construction.

Our specifications borrow from many of the experienced, knowledgeable organizations working in green building and energy efficient design. But ours are unique in that we have included a detailed approach to eliminating some of the less commonly highlighted health issues, such as limiting the chances for pest infestation and the importance of incorporating internet wiring to bridge the digital divide. The guidelines address many options scaled to cost and applicability for the different cases our multi-family buildings experience. Much of the previous work done on healthy homes has been for single family homes; this project allowed us to draw from their experiences to produce a higher standard for multi-family housing.

An important part of our healthy homes toolbox is the availability of seminars to educate residents on environmental housing health issues. In January of 2004, New York City Council passed the New York City's Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act (Local Law 1 of 2004). UHAB had the opportunity to outreach to residents about the hazards associated with lead poisoning. We delivered training to co-op members and leaders about how the law affected their rights and responsibilities, and presented information on how to prevent lead hazards and poisoning. Based on the success of these programs, we also held seminars about Integrated Pest Management and Energy Efficiency.

Finally, the Toolbox includes resources and references for further research, giving users more in-depth information about the specifications and guidelines and providing links to local and national organizations that focus on housing, health, and building design.