Three Things We Need To Do To Develop a Healthy Housing Stock

Mariel Wolfson
2012 Meyer Fellow

Our new working paper explores healthy home concerns and behaviors among American homeowners and renters. We show that both groups are interested in improving the indoor environmental health of their homes, but face myriad challenges to doing so. Below, we highlight three important steps we can take toward improving the health of our housing stock.

1. Demonstrate and Respond to Consumer Demand

Healthy housing is becoming more than a niche market. Nearly one in four households in our survey had some concern about health-related issues in their homes, and more than 20% acknowledged uncertainty about whether their homes might contain health risks. Nearly half of American homeowners responding to our survey have some level of interest in healthy home issues. In fact, 60% had already taken action – even if minor – to create a healthier indoor environment at home.

Notes: Sample size is 529.  Households that expressed some basic level of healthy housing concern were asked, "Which general category(ies) best describes your concern about the impact of your home on your household’s health? "Source: JCHS tabulations of Healthy Home Owner Survey, The Farnsworth Group.

The leading concern among respondents was indoor air quality (IAQ). As outlined in our paper, the most important action we can take to improve residential IAQ is to reduce indoor emissions, including the pollution that comes from heating and cooking, as well as from chemicals that are off-gassed by our furnishings, carpets, paint, and the materials used in constructing our homes. It is therefore critical that both consumers and building professionals have more options for non-toxic/less-toxic materials and products.

In a recent example, Home Depot and Lowe’s announced that they would stop selling flooring containing phthalates, a category of chemicals believed to disrupt human hormones. This “retailer gatekeeping” is one way to start shifting away from hazardous products and toward safer ones. As consumer demand grows and is recognized, forward-thinking manufacturers, retailers, and service providers who make healthy building a priority will be in a strong position to serve this market What’s good for health and the environment will also be good for business.

Notes: Sample size is 465. Households that expressed some basic interest in ‘invisible’ healthy housing issues were asked, “Among the healthy home issues that concern your household, please select up to three of them that generate the most concern."
Source: JCHS tabulations of Healthy Home Owner Survey, The Farnsworth Group.

2. Demystify the Problem

One encouraging conclusion of our working paper is that both homeowners and renters are interested in making their homes healthier, especially by improving indoor air quality and water quality. However, these same consumers report that information – including a lack of time to research options – is an obstacle to taking action. They are suspicious of spurious environmental and health claims (“greenwashing”) and aren’t sure where to turn for trustworthy, science-based information on healthy home products and services.

This problem is amplified when the potential project – remediation, remodel or replacement – is costly in terms of money, time, and energy. A homeowner concerned about potential mold or unhealthy insulation might be just as worried and confused about whether remediating the problem can guarantee a healthier home or improve symptoms such as asthma or allergies.

Another dimension of this problem is the sheer volume and complexity of scientific information on indoor air and environmental quality. Cutting-edge research – including such topics such as indoor microbiomes and chemical interactions with moisture and UV light – is truly fascinating. However, it is not actionable for the average consumer.

Moreover, as interesting as research on emerging issues is, it is important that we not lose sight of older yet persistent healthy housing concerns that have affected our housing stock for generations. In fact, the Lumber Liquidators disaster of 2015 was due to high levels of formaldehyde, one of the first three major indoor air pollutants that were identified back in the 1970s, along with radon and combustion pollution from heating and cooking. These are still serious healthy housing issues, as is lead paint. The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has been a leader in indoor air quality research since the 1970s and offers a wealth of resources (designed for the public) on these issues.

Both our survey and the American Housing Survey show that numerous Americans still face basic structural integrity/safety problems in their homes, including insufficient insulation/weatherization, inadequate heating/cooling, electrical and plumbing problems, and pests. More attention to solving basic problems like these would go a long way toward making our housing stock healthier (for example, by helping to reduce the infiltration of outdoor air pollution, particularly in neighborhoods located near highways, airports, or industries.) While increased attention to chemicals and emerging issues is a positive development, we don’t want to neglect these critical basic issues.

Notes: Sample size is 414. Households that expressed some basic intention to act on specific healthy housing projects were asked, “Among the following healthy home actions your household has taken, plans to undertake or would like to undertake, please indicate how the related health issue(s) and/or risks(s) came to your household’s attention.”
Source: JCHS tabulations of Healthy Home Owner Survey, The Farnsworth Group.

3. Educate and Train Professionals on Solutions

Ever since the oil crisis of the 1970s, demand for energy-efficient homes has grown and building professionals have responded accordingly. Now, the construction/homebuilding/remodeling industry should do the same for healthy home concerns. As discussed in Point #1 above, consumers want their homes to contain fewer toxic materials and have good indoor environmental quality overall, but they need trustworthy expertise, services and information from the industry. Because energy efficiency and indoor environmental/air quality are so intertwined, this creates a natural opportunity for knowledgeable contractors to help their clients integrate both energy and IAQ concerns into upgrade/remodeling projects.

Building professionals who have relevant expertise – which includes knowledge of healthier/non-toxic materials and practices – will have a distinct competitive advantage both with individual homeowners and owners of multifamily buildings. Our paper shows that renters want healthier options, just as they want “green” units.

Fortunately, there is a growing number of initiatives that work to help building professionals develop this expertise, such as Healthy Housing Solutions, which offers training courses, as well as the National Center for Healthy Housing, the Healthy Building Network, the Perkins and Will Transparency project , and the Green and Healthy Homes Initiative. The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s strategy for action is another valuable resource.

Going forward, we hope that a focus on these three areas might go a long way towards improving the nation’s housing stock and the experience of the housing consumer, while also improving the nation’s overall health.

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Read the full paper at Challenges and Opportunities in Creating Healthy Homes: Helping Consumers Make Informed Decisions by Mariel Wolfson and Elizabeth La Jeunesse

Wild Frontiers of Healthy Housing Research: Microbes Among Us

by Elizabeth La Jeunesse
Research Analyst

Recently, the Joint Center has been researching what makes a healthy home.  As Mariel Wolfson pointed out in her recent blog, indoor air quality has been a major component of modern healthy home research dating back to the 1970s.  Radon, formaldehyde, and combustion pollution from cooking and heating are traditionally identified as key risks.  One emerging topic that has yet to be understood is how microbial communities living among us affect household health.  As it turns out, these microbiomes (diverse communities of bacteria and other microorganisms sharing space with humans) are not well understood, but have great potential to impact human health indoors.

Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to attend a symposium on Microbiomes of the Built Environment at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).  With some astonishment, I discovered there are millions of microbial species on earth, and while some are pathogens that are linked to illness and diseases, the majority are beneficial for humans.  For example, microbes have the potential to educate our immune systems, produce vitamins, energy, anti-inflammatories, and even neurotransmitters.

The squeamish may wince, but the fact remains: humans live in a sea of indoor bacteria—at home, work and in other public spaces—many of which promote human health.  Indeed, a central theme of the conference was that people not only need to be protected from pathogens, but they also need to be exposed to diverse microbes, especially at a young age.

Further research is needed on this front.  The vast majority of these microbes have yet to be classified.  And scientists don’t yet understand what constitutes a ‘healthy’ microbiome in the built environment.  More research is also needed on how to design, properly maintain, and fix buildings to prevent or eliminate problematic microbial indoor communities.  Currently, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is investing millions of dollars into a Microbiology of the Built Environment Program to study these and many other questions.  While answers remain far off, I came away from the conference with several takeaways relevant to the residential housing sector:

1.     Building design and management both play a role in the transmission of microbial communities.  In any built environment, the rate and efficiency of air circulation and filtration, as well as disinfection by UV light, all impact transmission of microbiomes. Rooms in same air handling units have similar microbiomes.  Even the type of ventilation—mechanical versus natural—impacts the diversity and composition of microbial communities indoors.  All of this suggests a distant, future role for ‘bioinformed’ design and management of homes and other residential communities.

2.     Building materials, and even appliances and fixtures, impact growth of microbial communities.  Bamboo, for example, widely heralded as a cheap and rapidly renewable building product, also exhibits rapid oxidative aging, enabling mold to grow more rapidly once the wood has been aged for long periods.  Even showerhead design can impact the spread waterborne microbial communities.  Some high efficiency showerheads can put out a fine mist that enters deep into human lungs, the effects of which need to be examined further.  Additional research and understanding is undoubtedly needed on how a variety of materials, fixtures, and appliances impact indoor microbial communities.

3.     Water quality will remain a challenge.  Scientists know surprisingly little about our drinking water’s microbial composition. Additionally, while the quality of U.S. drinking water is exceptionally high by world standards, our water infrastructure is aging and “nearing the end of its useful life,” according to the American Society of Civil Engineers.  The cost for replacement may be as much as $1 trillion over the next several decades.  As concern for water sustainability increases, water may be sitting in pipes longer, which may promote the growth of bacteria.  A prominent example can be seen in the case of hands-free faucets that can pose risks in a hospital setting.

4.     While scientists still don’t understand what a ‘healthy’ indoor microbiome may be, some preliminary findings and suggestions were offered to promote indoor health.  Most prominently, dampness and mold are widely identified as known factors associated with asthma, eczema, and other related health problems under the umbrella of ‘sick building syndrome.’  As Dr. Mark Mendell explained at the conference, films of fungi or bacteria on air conditioning coils are likely responsible for many of these cases.  Identifying and removing extra building moisture, removing settled dust, and properly operating and maintaining HVAC systems were are all recommended for preventing and remediating sick building syndrome.  A helpful 2012 alert from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) contains further guidelines.  In addition to protecting against pathogens, some epidemiological evidence suggests that having dogs at home may actually protect against asthma early in life by facilitating exposure to diverse microbes.

If and when scientists do eventually unravel the complex riddle of what constitutes a healthy indoor microbiome, further questions and challenges will remain.  How can healthy, bioinformed buildings be designed and maintained?   Perhaps an even greater challenge will be what to do from a policy perspective. Should architects, building scientists, and policy makers take steps to promote certain bacterial communities in buildings?   As Dr. Jeffery Seigel pointed out at the conference, public perception could be tricky—for instance, if people get sick inside a building designed to promote certain bacteria, they could assume it’s because of the particular microbiome in the building. 

Study of microbiomes in the built environment is a challenging and wild frontier in the realm of healthy housing research, but findings relevant to residential health likely will inform consumers’ future home improvement behaviors and spending.  Indeed, according to a recent Joint Center survey, one out of every four homeowners expressed concern about some aspect of their home negatively impacting their household’s health. And among owners specifically concerned about ‘invisible’ risks, such as indoor air or water quality, more than half took at least one specific action to remediate their concern, including installation of water filters, mold removal, and choice of paints with low- or no airborne toxins.  In other words, U.S. consumers’ perception of invisible health risks and problems, and their growing knowledge of best practices in healthy housing, impacts their home improvement behavior.  Further developments in healthy housing research likely will impact their choices of remodeling projects and materials, and may even influence how they go about choosing remodeling contractors who they feel will best protect and even promote their households’ health.