Customize this Chapter
Enter the name of your city, town or village and select its size to customize your printed documents and see stories below relevant to your size.
Enter name and select size, then click CUSTOMIZE. To remove customization, click RESET.
How to Gather Local Facts
Healthy Housing Toolkit
In addition to using the proof points that relate to each Core Message, make sure to gather local facts and stories that speak directly to your stakeholders. Also draw examples from what other municipalities have achieved for their residents.
Here are a few questions to ask yourself about conditions in your local community and to get started on your fact-finding mission. These were developed in partnership with Alan Mallach, Senior Fellow at the Center for Community Progress.
- What are the most critical housing/healthy housing problems?
- Specific physical health issues, such as lead poisoning or asthma?
- Specific behavioral health issues?
- Physical condition of rental properties such as single-family rentals?
- Vacant and abandoned buildings and vacant lots?
- Other block/neighborhood issues, such as access to health services?
- Rental arrears, evictions?
- Mortgage defaults, foreclosure?
- Other?
- How many people are currently affected by the critical problems?
- Who are they (demographics: age, child status, tenure, race/ethnicity)?
- What are the particular geographic areas most affected by these problems?
Getting Started
To identify the types of data you might want to collect locally and where to find it, select Print this Page and write in your notes to the prompts below. We’ve provided some examples to get you started.
- Available Data Set: Elevated blood lead levels
Location/Who Has Access: Public Health Dept.
Who Will Collect and Add:
- Available Data Set: School absenteeism related to asthma
Location/Who Has Access: School District
Who Will Collect and Add:
- Available Data Set: Asthma hospitalizations
Location/Who Has Access: Hospital/Health Systems
Who Will Collect and Add:
- Available Data Set: Housing stock pre-1978
Location/Who Has Access: City Housing Dept.
Who Will Collect and Add:
- Available Data Set: Open code violations
Location/Who Has Access: Code Inspectors Office
Who Will Collect and Add:
- Available Data Set: Accessibility of home repair resources
Location/Who Has Access: City Housing Dept.
Who Will Collect and Add:
- Available Data Set: Availability of tenants’ rights support
Location/Who Has Access: Legal Aid Organization, or Medical-Legal Partnership
Who Will Collect and Add:
- Available Data Set:
Location/Who Has Access:
Who Will Collect and Add:
- Available Data Set:
Location/Who Has Access:
Who Will Collect and Add:
- Available Data Set:
Location/Who Has Access:
Who Will Collect and Add:
NLC members can also gain access to a data tool from our partners, mySidewalk, called Seek Cities. Seek Cities lets you quickly identify data points for your local community, build out visualization for analysis that can inform strategic targeting of services and policy implementation. For more information, please visit mySidewalk.
How to Gather Local Stories
When gathering stories from your residents, landlords and other stakeholders, remember these key tips. We’ve provided examples on how to plan your story-gathering. Select Print this Page and write in your notes to the prompts below.
1. Make specific asks. Rather than simply saying “Share your housing story,” frame it with the point you’re trying to support, such as:
- “In what ways is your home unsafe?”
- “Share a story about how you saved money by upgrading your property.”
2. Point to the positive. While you certainly want to gather stories that show the negative impact of unsafe and unhealthy housing, also gather stories of hope and what is possible:
- “In what way would your life change if your house was safer or healthier?”
- “What would a healthy house look like?”
3. Ask for descriptive language. To collect stories from your stakeholders that will resonate, ask questions like a curious child:
- “Then what happened? What did you think? How did you feel?”
- “What did it look like? Was it blue?”
4. Respect your storyteller. When you ask someone to share their lived experience, make sure they know why you’re asking them, how their story will be utilized or shared, and the positive impact sharing their story will have. Thank them for helping make your entire community healthier and safer.
- How and where their stories will be shared:
- The positive impact contributing their stories will have:
- Our plan for thanking them:
Stories from Other Municipalities
Use the Customize this Chapter box above to filter the stories below by population size.25
Baton Rouge, LA
Population: 225,500
Baton Rouge is committed to closing the housing affordability gap and working with community partners to provide healthy, accessible housing to all residents. Strategies include establishing formalized collaborations and a comprehensive plan to leverage existing funding streams, strategic planning initiatives and stakeholder coalitions to holistically address housing quality and affordability through deeper partnerships.
Bloomington, IL
Population: 78,788
Bloomington is working to identify and prioritize top housing health issues by understanding the quality of existing housing stock. The city hopes to create and implement a targeted, healthy housing strategy—in cooperation with community partners—that preserves the community’s existing affordable housing. The city’s long-term goals for healthy housing are to further cooperate and coordinate with local anchor institutions, and to learn and employ best practices for engaging developers to improve affordable housing options for residents.
Boston, MA
Population: 665,945
In Boston, a cross-sector group created the Healthy Start in Housing program, which helps high- and at-risk pregnant women secure and retain stable housing. The program receives more than 100 referrals annually and shows statistically significant improvements in participants’ mental health.26 (Partners: Boston Housing Authority, Boston Public Health Commission, the city’s Inspectional Services Department, the Boston Foundation, and local universities and medical institutions)
Charlotte, NC
Population: 875,045
With recent growth and economic expansion, Charlotte is prioritizing equitable housing opportunities. The city offers numerous robust programs for both housing modification and new housing, as well as established external partnerships that address targeted aspects of health and housing. The city is focusing on the health impacts of existing affordable housing programs and approaches through better data-driven interventions and accountability, health and housing partnerships, and sustaining program staff capacity to promote the health of residents.
Chicago, IL
Population: 2.7 Million
Thirty years ago, 80% of Chicago children had elevated blood lead levels; now, it’s under 5%. In 2022-2023, Chicago leaders joined the Healthy Housing Community of Practice with $45 million to expand healthy homes work. They aimed to break city silos, leveraging diverse expertise and perspectives to envision robust policies. Collaboratively, they crafted a roadmap focusing on internal coalition building, asthma reduction training, healthy homes ordinances and hazard baseline creation. Despite challenges like political shifts, they remain dedicated to progress. Their experience underscores the importance of adaptability and intentionality in achieving public health goals.
Detroit, MI
Population: 636,787
Detroit is committed to “One City for All of Us,” with equitable access to healthy, safe and stable housing, so that all residents can fully take part in the city’s ongoing revitalization and achieve the quality of life they deserve. The city has numerous housing initiatives underway, as well as strong stakeholder coalitions that draw in local expertise on lead hazard remediation and community support for aligned housing and health outcomes.
Durham, NC
Population: 284,094
Durham has a wide array of housing and health partnerships, with a longstanding body of work in reducing childhood lead poisoning. The city is working to deepen its relationships with community partners and build the infrastructure to bring its lead remediation work to scale. With the passage of the Affordable Housing Bond, the city has an opportunity to create a more comprehensive approach to reducing health hazards, including but not limited to lead remediation, as well as expand affordable housing access, through community partnerships.
Golden, CO
Population: 20,461
Golden, Colorado, nestled at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, grapples with wealth disparity amid scenic beauty. With a population over 20,000, the city faces housing challenges ranging from historic lead issues to structurally vulnerable mobile homes. Mayor Laura Weinberg prioritized healthy housing, prompting participation in the Healthy Housing Community of Practice. A diverse city team collaborated on a roadmap focusing on lead service line inventory, education programs and a rental registry. Lessons from the CoP fostered cohesive strategies, emphasizing collaboration and communication.
Grand Rapids, MI
Population: 198,096
In recent years, Grand Rapids leaders tackled local healthy housing issues, often consulting with Detroit counterparts. Despite size differences, Detroit’s struggles informed Grand Rapids’ approach, especially regarding buy-in from property owners for a healthy housing ordinance. Joining the 2022-2023 Healthy Housing Community of Practice expanded their network of peers further. The team, comprising city, county and hospital representatives, aimed to align efforts, improve data assessment, adopt evidence-based strategies, leverage early childhood systems and engage property owners. Their resulting roadmap emphasizes collaboration, data analysis, evidence-based strategies, early childhood initiatives, and property owner engagement, positioning Grand Rapids as a model for others.
Jersey City, NJ
Population: 287,899
Jersey City is committed to providing affordable and healthy housing, including through new developments in its growing downtown and proactive repairs of its existing housing stock. The city boasts several robust networks of health stakeholders and lead poisoning prevention coalitions, with a strong body of work on childhood lead poisoning prevention across sectors. With this issue top of mind, there is a window of opportunity to more intentionally embed equitable health improvement into comprehensive affordable housing efforts and potentially larger community efforts for equity.
New Orleans, LA
Population: 380,408
New Orleans grapples with pervasive housing issues, from substandard conditions to saltwater intrusion threatening. In response, a 2022 Healthy Homes ordinance was passed, including a rental registry. Despite momentum, operationalization remained a challenge. The Healthy Housing Community of Practice brought together city departments to streamline efforts. Benefits included stakeholder alignment, a shared language and learning from other cities’ experiences. The outcome: a roadmap for action, focusing on clear roles and responsibilities, robust inspection systems, expanded weatherization and streamlined lead-testing. Next steps: community engagement and hiring inspectors.
Norfolk, VA
Population: 236,973
With nearly half of housing as rentals and high eviction rates, Norfolk assembled a multi-agency team for the Healthy Housing Community of Practice. Prompted by a lead exposure case, they focused on streamlining home health hazards, expanding rehabilitation programs, exploring a rental registry, and coordinating lead remediation efforts. Quarterly meetings ensure progress, emphasizing collective action to tackle complex issues effectively.
Portland, OR-Vancouver, WA Metro Area
Population: 2.5 Million
In Oregon and Washington, the Portland-Vancouver Metro Area Smoke-Free Housing Project worked with landlords and tenant advocates to implement no-smoking rules in multi-unit housing in a win-win way.27 This policy change encouraged more people to quit tobacco and reduced second-hand smoke exposure among people living with lower incomes.28 (Partners: American Lung Association of Oregon, Multnomah County Health Department and Clark County Public Health)
End Notes
25 Populations sourced from My Sidewalk. 2018-2022 ACS.
26 Payton, C., Waxman, E., Gourevitch, R. “A City Takes Action. Emerging Strategies for Integrating Health and
Housing.” The Urban Institute. 2017. https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/91971/2001420_
boston_case_study_3.pdf.
27 Pizacani, B., Laughter, D., Menagh, K., Stark, M., Drach, L., & Hermann-Franzen, C. “Moving multiunit housing
providers toward adoption of smoke-free policies.” Preventing Chronic Disease, 8(1), A21. 2011.
28 Pizacani, B. A., Maher, J. E., Rohde, K., Drach, L., & Stark, M. J. “Implementation of a smoke-free policy in
subsidized multiunit housing: effects on smoking cessation and secondhand smoke exposure.” Nicotine &
Tobacco Research: Official Journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco, 14(9), 1027–1034. 2012. https://doi.org/10.1093/ntr/ntr334.