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IN THE COMMUNITY Initiative Takes Home Improvement to Heart Almost two years ago, John Spengler, the Akira Yamaguchi professor of environmental health and human habitation in the Department of Environmental Health at HSPH, observed the construction of new public housing in Mission Main, adjacent to the Longwood Medical Area. He was aware that for many Boston-area residents of public housing, health and quality of life are, for better or worse, tied to building conditions. Along with public housing residents, the Boston Housing Authority, the Committee for Boston Public Housing, South Boston Community Health Center, the Boston Public Health Commission, and the Boston Medical Center, Spengler began work on the Healthy Public Housing Initiative (HPHI) to improve building conditions and quality of life, as well as to sustain these improvements. Through HPHI, public housing residents are trained in ways to help families maintain their homes, which includes providing educational materials; assisting with work orders for the home; meeting with the families; and donating cleaning materials, vacuums, and storage bins. The housing initiative also is continuing with allergy testing in homes and gathering data, such as information on nitrogen dioxide levels. In addition, an analysis subcommittee including community partners is working on developing methods to best disseminate the scientific findings generated by the initiative in a way that is useful to residents. HPHI also benefits from the commitment of faculty members, such as Jonathan Levy, HSPH assistant professor of environmental health and risk assessment; Pat Hynes of Boston University School of Public Health; and Doug Brugge of the Tufts University School of Public Health. Increased faculty involvement in the areas of health economics and statistics will aid the initiative in gathering data and developing models based on these findings. "There is a light at the end of the tunnel," Spengler emphasized, "and it is our hope that Boston will become a model for healthy public housing for the rest of the nation." The housing initiative is supported by the Kellogg Foundation, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Boston Foundation, and the Jessie B. Cox Charitable Trust. For more information, contact John Spengler at spengler@hsph.harvard.edu. --Galant Au