The National Center for Healthy Housing (NCHH) is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to creating safe and healthy housing for American families. Its research often provides a scientific basis for federal, state, and local policies and programs. NCHH trained nearly 45,000 individuals in healthy housing practices from 2005 through 2014. NCHH's advocacy efforts aim to ensure that health is considered in housing policy and that housing is valued as a determinant of health. Through partnerships, NCHH seeks to reduce health disparities in low-income communities and communities of color. Founded by Fannie Mae in 1992, it was originally known as the National Center for Lead-Safe Housing. NCHH's main office is based in downtown Columbia, Maryland.
With over 25 years of experience, NCHH conducts applied research, program evaluation, technical assistance, training, and outreach focused on reducing the health consequences of indoor exposures. NCHH's staff includes housing, health, and environmental professionals with expertise in biostatistics, epidemiology, environmental health, public health, housing policy, and industrial hygiene.
History
1992-2002: Formation of the National Center for Lead-Safe Housing
The Fannie Mae Foundation created the National Center for Lead-Safe Housing (as it was known at the time) in October 1992, using a $5.2 million donation from its outgoing president, David Maxwell. At the time, the grant was the Fannie Mae Foundation’s largest-ever gift. The purpose of the gift was to create a nonprofit organization that would represent, with the Alliance for Healthy Homes (a District of Columbia-based nonprofit organization) and the Enterprise Foundation serving as parent organizations, the first national joint venture between affordable housing and environmental public health advocates.
Walter G. "Nick" Farr, a vice president of the Enterprise Foundation, was asked to lead the new nonprofit. Joining Farr as the deputy director at the fledgling organization was Dr. David Jacobs, a technical expert on lead-based paint safety. Prior to joining the National Center for Lead-Safe Housing, Dr. Jacobs had been a faculty research scientist at the Georgia Institute of Technology. The two men assembled a team of researchers, housing professionals, advocates, and others to chart the nation's path to primary prevention of childhood lead poisoning.
Over the next few years, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) challenged the center to compose a definitive source of national technical guidelines for dealing with lead-based paint, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) asked the center to develop robust scientific studies in order to understand sources and pathways of lead exposure, and the Environmental Protection Agency requested research to assess the hazards of lead-contaminated dust. Cushing Dolbeare, a preeminent affordable housing advocate and board member of both the new center and the Alliance for Healthy Homes, chaired a congressionally chartered task force in 1995 with a vision for making the nation’s housing stock lead-safe, demanding changes in state and local laws, regulations, and ordinances.
In 2001, the center was one of the first to recognize publicly that homes with lead paint problems typically posed several other health threats as well; they argued that addressing these hazards separately was both ineffective and inefficient.
Recognizing the need and their capability to address more home hazards than lead-based paint, the board of directors opted to change the organization’s name from the National Center for Lead-Safe Housing to the National Center for Healthy Housing (NCHH) in 2001. The larger scale inferred by the change of the organization’s name allowed NCHH to expand the scope of its mission significantly; it would now focus not only on lead, still a major priority, but also other housing-related health hazards and causes, such as asthma, mold, and integrated pest management.
Nick Farr retired from the organization in 2001 but remained in touch with his friends and colleagues at NCHH until his passing on May 27, 2014.
2002-2014: Rebecca Morley Becomes NCHH's Second Executive Director; Formation of Healthy Housing Solutions
In July 2002, Nick Farr's replacement as executive director came in the form of Rebecca Morley, MSPP, who had worked previously as a senior associate at ICF Consulting in Washington, DC. At ICF, Ms. Morley had advised clients, including federal agencies, on lead poisoning prevention. Under Ms. Morley’s stewardship, the center continued to grow and flourish.