HHI Mold and Moisture Project Summaries

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Cuyahoga County Urban Moisture and Mold Program; Ohio (1999)

To reduce disease rates and increase the quality of life for children of Cuyahoga County, the Cuyahoga County Department of Development developed a program to reduce health risks among low-income children residing in areas with high rates of environmental hazards. The target area consists of 180 census tracts within the county, including the following communities: Cleveland, East Cleveland, Cleveland Heights, Maple Heights, Garfield Heights, Newburgh Heights, Warrensville Heights, and Euclid.

Conditions within this area render it a prime target for intervention. Nearly two-thirds of all homes in the target area were built before 1950 and approximately thirty percent of the population lives below the poverty line. The county's need for an intervention has increased in recent years with an outbreak of idiopathic pulmonary hemosiderosis, a disease that causes infants to cough blood and can be fatal if untreated. Since 1994, 43 infants have contracted the disease, which has been linked with exposure to a toxigenic mold called Stachybotyrs Chartarum found in basements and other chronically wet areas within the home.

The Department seeks to:

• Remediate 150 housing units for moisture, mold, and lead hazards using four different levels of interventions;
• Provide high-efficiency vacuums and instruction to 75 families as part of a control group;
• Create economic opportunity for low-income residents with job opportunities in the program's intervention and outreach efforts;
• Provide advanced healthy homes education to approximately 225 families, benefiting an estimated 675 children; and
• Leverage an additional $2,100,624 to research the effects of cost-effective moisture and mold control on the home environmental and the health of children.

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Mold and Moisture in Inner-City Housing: Illinois (1999)

To conduct a Mold and Moisture Control Project in Chicago's inner-city housing, the Illinois Department of Public Health partnered with the Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Affairs (DCCA), the University of Illinois' Building Research Council (BRC), the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH), and the Community and Economic Development Association of Cook County (CEDA).

Chicago's inner city housing has a great need for environmental hazard interventions. Over half of the area's housing was constructed before 1959 and 35 percent of the area's children aged six or younger live in poverty. In 1997, children accounted for almost half of the area's hospitalizations due to asthma.

The 36-month program will provide information about moisture, mold, lead and carbon monoxide poisoning, and other related problems to hundreds of families. Of these families, 25 will receive further medical and environmental evaluation and low-cost moisture control housing rehabilitation services.

The 25 families will also receive intensive environmental, biological, and medical monitoring as part of an applied research program to determine the effectiveness of the intervention measures. These families are a part of a production group that will receive moisture intervention work and educational materials. Lessons from the applied research phase will be applied to improve a cost-effective moisture intervention delivery system integrated with other weatherization and housing rehabilitation programs.