Housing activists link mold and asthma

[Guest guest]

Housing activists link mold and asthma

San Diego Union Tribune*

By Willie Bans

UNION-TRIBUNE

November 13, 2007

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20071113-9999-

1m13asthma.html

SAN DIEGO – The binder contains photo upon photo of cockroach-

infested bathrooms inside City Heights apartments. Rats are pictured

scurrying about. The walls in children's bedrooms are spotted with

mold.

Genoveva Aguilar flips through the pages she says are evidence of

how conditions in the San Diego neighborhood's substandard housing

are linked to the area's high asthma rate.

Aguilar is the director of Proyecto Casas Saludables (Healthy Homes

Project), a nonprofit arm of the Mid-City Community Action Network

that has worked for three years to reduce the factors contributing

to asthma.

Numerous organizations were involved in the project that last year

evaluated conditions at 140 rentals in City Heights, where the

median household income is $25,593.

The findings: 31 percent of respondents had children with asthma;

more than 79 percent of their residences had cockroaches; and 64

percent lived with mold.

The result: the attention of city officials and 10 small claims

court cases, nine of which were won by residents, said Virginia

Angeles, who helped with the evaluations.

O'Neill, a director with the Mid-City Community Action

Network, said benefits go beyond the court cases and a January

meeting with city officials to address the problems.

Residents have been talking about poor living conditions to

outsiders, thanks to local residents who did much of the legwork.

These activist residents collected the data and educated residents

about how mold and cockroaches can contribute to asthma. They let

residents know where they could go for help.

Carmona, whose 2-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter suffer

from asthma, said that when an activist local resident visited her

cockroach-infested home, she discovered she wasn't the only mother

with that situation.

" I was afraid because I know other people who were scared to ask

their landlords for help because they had cockroaches, rats, water

leakage, " Carmona said in Spanish. " They know when they say that,

the landlord will say, 'You know what? You have 30 days left here or

give me the money to fix it.'

" It's a fear of speaking. "

Money for the project runs out in March. Proyecto Casas Saludables

received $321,000 from the California Endowment, a statewide health

care foundation.

Organizers hope to change city codes regarding mold before the

project ends.

Meanwhile, local residents are working as volunteers, holding

workshops and visiting families concerned about their living

situation.

" People have trusted us, " Angeles said in Spanish. " It's very

necessary for us to listen to their problems. . . . We do it in a

manner so that people don't think programs come in and programs

leave, when the problems are still there. "

---------------------------------------------------------------------

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Willie Bans is a Union-Tribune intern.

[Guest guest]

This is true I have the same problem mold cause my asthma.

Elvira

tigerpaw2c <tigerpaw2c@...> wrote:

Housing activists link mold and asthma

San Diego Union Tribune*

By Willie Bans

UNION-TRIBUNE

November 13, 2007

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20071113-9999-

1m13asthma.html

SAN DIEGO – The binder contains photo upon photo of cockroach-

infested bathrooms inside City Heights apartments. Rats are pictured

scurrying about. The walls in children's bedrooms are spotted with

mold.

Genoveva Aguilar flips through the pages she says are evidence of

how conditions in the San Diego neighborhood's substandard housing

are linked to the area's high asthma rate.

Aguilar is the director of Proyecto Casas Saludables (Healthy Homes

Project), a nonprofit arm of the Mid-City Community Action Network

that has worked for three years to reduce the factors contributing

to asthma.

Numerous organizations were involved in the project that last year

evaluated conditions at 140 rentals in City Heights, where the

median household income is $25,593.

The findings: 31 percent of respondents had children with asthma;

more than 79 percent of their residences had cockroaches; and 64

percent lived with mold.

The result: the attention of city officials and 10 small claims

court cases, nine of which were won by residents, said Virginia

Angeles, who helped with the evaluations.

O'Neill, a director with the Mid-City Community Action

Network, said benefits go beyond the court cases and a January

meeting with city officials to address the problems.

Residents have been talking about poor living conditions to

outsiders, thanks to local residents who did much of the legwork.

These activist residents collected the data and educated residents

about how mold and cockroaches can contribute to asthma. They let

residents know where they could go for help.

Carmona, whose 2-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter suffer

from asthma, said that when an activist local resident visited her

cockroach-infested home, she discovered she wasn't the only mother

with that situation.

" I was afraid because I know other people who were scared to ask

their landlords for help because they had cockroaches, rats, water

leakage, " Carmona said in Spanish. " They know when they say that,

the landlord will say, 'You know what? You have 30 days left here or

give me the money to fix it.'

" It's a fear of speaking. "

Money for the project runs out in March. Proyecto Casas Saludables

received $321,000 from the California Endowment, a statewide health

care foundation.

Organizers hope to change city codes regarding mold before the

project ends.

Meanwhile, local residents are working as volunteers, holding

workshops and visiting families concerned about their living

situation.

" People have trusted us, " Angeles said in Spanish. " It's very

necessary for us to listen to their problems. . . . We do it in a

manner so that people don't think programs come in and programs

leave, when the problems are still there. "

----------------------------------------------------------

-----------

Willie Bans is a Union-Tribune intern.

---------------------------------

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[Guest guest]

At this point, much research has conclusively, repeatedly linked mold

and asthma, so why do they keep implying that its 'new' news?