Goal: Advance access to safe, healthy, stable, and affordable housing in Massachusetts to address asthma inequities
Objective 1: Increase the number of smoke-free housing buildings/units available by 2026
Strategy 1: Prioritize providing smoke-free housing training and TA resources to affordable housing providers including public housing, rental assistance voucher, multifamily subsidized housing, including best practices for adoption, implementation, resident engagement and enforcement of smoke-free housing policies.
Strategy 2: Collaborate with housing partners (i.e. MACDC) to promote the adoption of smoke-free policies in affordable housing including rental units and privately owned properties among their membership.
Strategy 3: Recommend smoke-free policy requirements for all housing units and buildings receiving Federal and State funding (i.e. Housing Choice Voucher Program, State Public Housing).
Strategy 4: Promote and recommend the adoption of smoke-free policies by private property owners and operators.
Partner Led Strategies:
Strategy 5: Advocate for HUD to expand smoke-free policies across all HUD funded housing buildings and units.
Strategy 6: Advocate for DHCD to require smoke-free policies in DHCD funded public housing.
Strategy 7: Advocate for DHCD to provide priority preference points to proposed housing projects that include smoke-free policies.
Objective 2: Increase the number of buildings/units that implement green and healthy housing upgrades by 2026
Strategy 1: Promote the adoption of policies and practices among housing partners that limit asthma triggers in new construction and preservation projects.
Strategy 2: Recommend housing development funding agencies endorse the adoption and implementation of green and healthy housing upgrade policies.
Strategy 3: Promote and recommend the adoption of green and healthy housing practices in new and existing affordable housing developments.
Strategy 4: Recommend private developers and landlords to adopt green and healthy housing upgrade policies.
Strategy 5: Support and encourage green and healthy housing data collection initiatives.
Partner Led Strategies:
Strategy 6: Advocate to housing development funding agencies to incentivize the adoption and implementation of green and healthy housing upgrade policies.
Strategy 7: Advocate for adoption of green and healthy housing practices in new and existing affordable housing developments.
Strategy 8: Advocate for private developers and landlords to adopt green and healthy housing upgrade policies.
Strategy 9: Compile and /or establish baseline data for green and healthy housing (Mass CDC, DHCH, Independent Certification Agencies).
Objective 3: Increase the capacity of housing and health professionals to prevent, assess and mitigate asthma triggers in the home by 2026
Strategy 1: Train housing and health professionals on evidence-based strategies to prevent, assess and mitigate asthma triggers in the home.
Strategy 2: Support the development and expansion of CHW-led Asthma Home Visiting programs through training, technical assistance, best practice promotion and knowledge sharing opportunities.
Strategy 3: Elevate the need for community level funding to support the mitigation of asthma triggers.
Strategy 4: Develop and promote opportunities for experiential learning through in-field assessments, trainings, TA, and information sharing to health and housing professionals.
Partner Led Strategies:
Strategy 5: Advocate for policies to establish community level funding to support the mitigation of asthma triggers.
Objective 4: Reduce housing-based health risks, especially known asthma triggers, by 2026
Strategy 1: Educate residents, landlords and property management agencies on housing-based health risks, especially known asthma triggers and best practices in mitigation strategies.
Strategy 2: Expand availability of asthma home visiting programs through resource connections.
Strategy 3: Expand the capacity of APCP-supported best practice asthma home visiting trainings to serve an increased number of CHWs.
Strategy 4: Expand utilization of asthma home visiting programs through enhanced referral systems, established workflows, and the promotion of program efficacy.
Strategy 5: Recommend Accountable Care Organizations and elder care home visiting programs assessments include housing-based health risks that affect asthma.
Strategy 6: Promote widespread education of the public on housing-based health risks, especially asthma triggers.
Partner Led Strategies:
Strategy 7: Advocate to Accountable Care Organizations for policies to universally offer asthma home visits for patients with poorly controlled asthma.
Objective 5: Promote and support the development of communities of practice to bring partners together to collectively address healthy housing issues by 2026
Strategy 1: Engage healthy housing partners statewide via MAAP to facilitate the sharing of best practices, collaboration among partners and elevation of success stories around the reduction of housing-based health risks, especially known asthma triggers.
Strategy 2: Identify best practices and healthy housing successes to guide community level “communities of practice” in establishing guiding principles and goals.
Strategy 3: Engage and encourage partners to develop community-level communities of practice, including housing agencies, BOH, healthcare, schools, CBO’s, tenant organizations, landlord associations, etc. to address local healthy housing issues.
Objective 6: Increase the number of buildings and individual units where Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is being followed by 2026
Strategy 1: Establish a baseline of information through collaboration with partners to share data on IPM implementation.
Strategy 2: Educate housing partners about the benefits of Integrated Pest Management.
Strategy 3: Promote the widespread distribution and use of the MADPH IPM toolkit (PDF). You can also download the text-only version of the toolkit.
Partner Led Strategies:
Strategy 4: Advocate for the inclusion of IPM in relevant municipal and state housing policies.
Use of the term “stakeholder”: The Asthma Prevention and Control Program has shifted away from the use of the term “stakeholder” to describe those who have an interest or concern in a particular topic due to its harmful ties to western colonialism and impact on indigenous communities. We acknowledge that at the time of publication of the full 2022-2026 Strategic Plan for Asthma in Massachusetts the term “stakeholder” was used in this document. Honoring an ongoing commitment to principals of racial equity and an ongoing evolution towards inclusivity in the language and concepts we use, future publications and materials developed by our program will continue to reflect this conscious shift towards more inclusive language.
All advocacy activities listed will not be conducted by MA DPH or any partner organizations using state and/or federal funding.