title: Moving into green healthy housing.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Green building systems have proliferated but health outcomes and associated costs and benefits remain poorly understood.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To compare health before and after families moved into new green healthy housing with a control group in traditionally repaired housing.
  
  
  METHODS
  Mixed methods study in 3 Chicago housing developments.
  
  
  METHODS
  Public housing and low-income subsidized households (n = 325 apartments with 803 individuals).
  
  
  METHODS
  Self-reported health status, visual assessment of housing condition, indoor air sampling, and Medicaid expenditure and diagnostic data. Medicaid expenditures and International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision codes were modeled using a generalized linear model with γ distribution and log-link.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Housing conditions and self-reported physical and mental health improved significantly in the green healthy housing study group compared with both the control group and the dilapidated public housing from which the residents moved, as did hay fever, headaches, sinusitis, angina, and respiratory allergy. Asthma severity measured by self-reported lost school/work days, disturbed sleep, and symptoms improved significantly, as did sadness, nervousness, restlessness, and child behavior. Medicaid data in this exploratory study were inconclusive and inconsistent with self-reported health outcomes and visual assessment data on housing quality but hold promise for future investigation. Possible sources of bias in the Medicaid data include older age in the study group, changes in Medicaid eligibility over time, controlling for Medicaid costs in an urban area, and the increased stress associated with moving, even if the move is into better housing.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The mixed method approach employed here describes the complex relationships among self-reported health, housing conditions, environmental measures, and clinical data. Housing conditions and self-reported physical and mental health improved in green healthy housing. Health care cost savings in Medicaid due to improved housing could not be quantified here but hold promise for future investigations with larger cohorts over a longer follow-up period.
authors.affiliation: University of Illinois at Chicago (Drs Jacobs, Ahonen, Dorevitch, Smith, Evens, Dobrez, and Conroy and Mr Murphy); National Center for Healthy Housing, Columbia, Maryland (Drs Jacobs and Dixon and Ms Breysse); Center for Neighborhood Technology Energy, Chicago, Illinois (Drs Evens and Isaacson); and Brinshore Michaels Development, Northbrook, Illinois (Mr Levavi).
authors.forename: David E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Jacobs
authors.forename: Emily
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ahonen
authors.forename: Sherry L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Dixon
authors.forename: Samuel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dorevitch
authors.forename: Jill
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Breysse
authors.forename: Janet
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Evens
authors.forename: Doborah
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dobrez
authors.forename: Marjie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Isaacson
authors.forename: Colin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Murphy
authors.forename: Lorraine
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Conroy
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Levavi
mesh_terms: D002641:Chicago; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004779:Environment Design / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D062489:Health Impact Assessment; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D011203:Poverty / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011638:Public Housing / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D057566:Self Report; D014504:Urban Health / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data