HUD: National Healthy Homes Month 2021 Kicks Off

Theme of “The Power of Partnerships” underscores the importance of working with our local partners to improve the quality of homes and communities

Every June, National Healthy Homes Month (NHHM) highlights the impact of home-related health hazards and preventive actions families can take to eliminate them. During NHHM, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes (OLHCHH) partners with organizations across the county to educate residents through outreach, workshops, and local campaigns.

National Healthy Homes Month serves to educate families and communities about the importance of creating and maintaining a healthy home by addressing home-based hazards including reducing moisture and mold, improving ventilation, controlling pests, and maintaining indoor air quality.

This year’s theme, “The Power of Partnerships,” exemplifies the success of HUD’s history in fostering partnerships to address childhood lead safety and create healthy homes nationwide. These partners include housing and community development departments and agencies; academic institutions; home repair businesses; hospitals and medical clinics; health care and housing finance agencies; faith and community-based organizations; weatherization or energy efficiency corporations; and advocacy entities. Our collective work is the reason we have achieved great progress in mitigating the impacts of unhealthy housing, strengthening communities, preserving affordable housing, and ensuring future generations can achieve their full potential.

“Working with our local partners is vital to addressing housing related health and safety hazards, whether it’s in big cities or in rural and other settings,” said HUD Secretary Marcia L. Fudge. “During the pandemic, when outreach was challenging as many people sheltered at home, our partners and many others continued to implement our programs to help residents maintain safe and healthy homes.”

During the month, outreach includes the broad dissemination of a digital toolkit and a series of national, stakeholder-targeted webinars throughout June. These webinars are designed to help educators and other stakeholders to stay abreast of healthy homes research, guidelines, and emerging issues. More information about National Healthy Homes Month can be found at https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/healthy_homes/nhhm.