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39 Clearinghouse Rev. 65 (2005-2006)
Lawyers and Doctors Partner for Healthy Housing

handle is hein.journals/clear39 and id is 65 raw text is: Lawyers and Doctors Partner for Healthy Housing By Monisha Cherayil, Denise Oliveira, Megan Sandel, and Ellen Tohn Monisha Cherayil Intern Denise Oliveira Staff Attorney Family Advocacy Program 91 E. Concord St., MAT-6 Boston, MA 02118-2393 617.414.7430 monisha.cherayil@bmc.org deniserolivera@gmail.com Megan Sandel Pediatrician at Boston Medical Center and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Boston University School of Medicine Department of Pediatrics Boston Medical Center 91 E. Concord St., MAT-4 Boston, MA 02118-2393 617.638.8000 megan~sandel@bmc.org Ellen Tohn Senior Advisor at National Center for Healthy Housing and President of ERT Associates ERT Associates 5 Fields Lane Wayland, MA 01778 etohn@ertassociates.com edical professionals are becoming more deeply aware that a child's environ- ment as much as, or even more than, biological and genetic factors can affect her health. One such environmental determinant of health is the condition of the housing where a child lives. All states and most localities have laws governing the conditions of residential property. Lawyers, by advocating proper enforcement of these laws, ensure that housing is safe and sanitary-and thus help children grow up healthy. An innovative collaboration between pediatricians and lawyers at the Boston Medical Center is developing creative strategies to hold landlords and government agencies accountable for meeting their obligations under housing-related laws and regula- tions. As New England's largest safety-net hospital, Boston Medical Center serves a predominantly low-income population. The Family Advocacy Program, a legal serv- ices office housed in the medical center's pediatrics department, employs lawyers to represent patients and their families in a wide array of civil matters, including hous- ing problems. Lawyers from the program work closely with the medical center's pediatricians to help individual patient families attain the healthiest housing possi- ble. Together with other public health specialists from groups such as the Asthma Regional Council, the lawyers and pediatricians advocate healthier housing on a sys- temic level. After outlining the link between housing and child health and relevant law, we describe the strategies that the Family Advocacy Program and the Asthma Regional Council have employed to help low-income families achieve healthy conditions in their homes. Although these strategies utilize laws and regulations specific to Massachusetts, they have the potential to serve as models for child health interven- tions across the country. I. Housing and Health Over 5.3 million households, some 12.5 million people, pay over 50 percent of their available income on rent or live in substandard conditions or both.' Paying more than 50 percent of income on rent is linked to malnutrition and stunting of growth in children because not enough money is spent on food. Such housing problems often result in poor health, causing increased rates of asthma, lead poisoning, and injuries in children. Poor and minority children are often the most likely to face inadequate housing and to suffer the resulting health effects. The most common chronic disease of children, asthma has seen an alarming rise in the past ten years; asthma affects an estimated 17.3 million children and adults in the 1 US, DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, WAITING IN VAIN: AN UPDATE ON AMERICA'S RENTAL HOUSING CRISIS (1999) Clearinghouse REVIEW Journal of Poverty Law and Policy I May-June 2005

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