Study links kids' health to housing

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Study links kids' health to housing: Dallas described as hard-hit by loss of

subsidized units

The Dallas Morning News

4-8-99

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Living in poor housing can be hazardous to children's health, two doctors

and a housing expert have found.

Their study, released Wednesday, says that hundreds of thousands of American

children have suffered disease, serious injury, malnutrition and educational

failure because they lived in housing that was substandard or too costly.

The authors say the report is the first to document on a national basis the

connection between poor housing and poor health.

The study, " There's No Place Like Home: How America's Housing Crisis

Threatens Our Children, " says the problem has been exacerbated in recent

years by a sharp decline in affordable housing.

Dallas has been particularly hard-hit by this crisis, the study shows. Over

the last two years, Dallas has lost more than 5,500 federally subsidized

apartments - 40 percent of the total lost in Texas.

Dr. Carmen R. , a pediatrician who has worked in Parkland Memorial

Hospital's clinic in East Dallas for five years, has seen the results up

close.

" Many of the illnesses we see here are directly related to housing, " said

Dr. , citing asthma and lead poisoning as examples.

The report calls on the federal government to significantly increase

spending on affordable housing. Dr. said the country would pay a

steep price if it failed to act.

" Preventative medicine'

" I see this as preventative medicine, " she said of the report's

recommendations. " If we take care of our children by providing them with

good housing, we will have much less illness and fewer problems at school. "

The study was written by Dr. Sandel and Dr. Sharfstein,

pediatric specialists at Boston Medical Center and Children's Hospital, and

Randy Shaw, an executive director and chief attorney for a San Francisco

housing clinic that has helped poor families for two decades.

The study documents the connection between medical and housing problems with

recent nationwide housing statistics, articles from medical journals and

dozens of medical case studies.

The authors show that many childhood diseases, injuries and other physical

problems result from inadequate housing.

Asthma is a prime example. It is the most common chronic illness among

American children, killing hundreds each year. Asthma is far more likely to

victimize poor children for two reasons, the study finds.

First, poor children often live with cockroaches, dust mites, mold, rats,

inadequate heat and crowding - each of which can trigger an asthma attack.

Second, many poor families cannot pay for treatment because rent payments

often consume more than half of their income.

Asthma attacks

Lionel, a young boy cited in the study, understands these problems too well.

Over the last nine months, Lionel has visited a hospital 10 times for asthma

attacks. His family rents a home whose roof leaks. It is infested with mice

and roaches. Lionel's mother repeatedly has asked the landlord to make

repairs. He routinely ignores her requests.

" Since she cannot afford to move, she feels trapped, " the authors wrote.

When it comes to respiratory viruses and infectious diseases, the

consequences of poor housing can be deadly, the study found. For example,

three children in Cleveland died as a result of fungus in rotting drywall

and ceiling tiles.

A 16-year-old in the Boston area required nightly intravenous feedings of a

sugar solution to keep his blood sugar from dropping to dangerously low

levels. " One night, " the study recounted, " rats in his apartment chewed

through the feeding tube to get at the sugar solution, which then poured out

on to the floor. "

The boy's mother saved his life by rushing him to an emergency room.

Poor housing assaults the health of children in myriad other ways, the study

found, saying that such children are:

* Nine times more likely to die in house fires of electrical origin.

* Far more likely to be malnourished. For example, children on waiting lists

for public housing are six times more likely to have stunted growth than

children living in public housing. Nationwide, 1 million families are on

waiting lists for public housing.

* Far more likely to fail in school. The reasons: A disproportionate number

live in homes with lead paint, and many are forced to change schools each

year.

Spreading the word

Dorothy Masterson, executive director of the Housing Crisis Center in

Dallas, sees the connection. She is trying to educate others.

" One of the difficulties I have is getting school officials to understand

that a school problem is often a housing problem, " said Ms. Masterson, who

has been helping poor tenants and the homeless for more than two decades.

Ms. Masterson said Dallas city officials have never spent any general fund

money to assist poor families in rental housing.

City housing director K. Vaughn said Ms. Masterson was correct. She

added, " This is something that I promised her I would look into. "

The federal government has taken some steps to address the shortage of

affordable housing. Last year it appropriated money for 90,000 vouchers that

allow poor families to rent private apartments. The Clinton administration

has proposed funding an additional 100,000 vouchers in 2000.

In addition, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development launched a

$7 million educational campaign last year to alert families to potential

dangers in their homes.

" At HUD, we have taken action to ensure that at home, a child is safe, " HUD

Secretary Cuomo said Wednesday.

Mr. Shaw, one of the authors of the study, said 100,000 vouchers would still

leave millions of families trapped in expensive, inadequate housing. He said

far more must be done.

" We have a defense budget of $280 billion and a housing budget of $25

billion, " Mr. Shaw said. " 'The basic American premise is that each person

has an equal opportunity to achieve a decent life. For many, the lack of

affordable housing violates that premise. "

CHART(S): (1-2 DMN) 1. Survey Findings. 2. The Cost of

Housing For Poor Renters. 2. Survey Findings.

PHOTO(S): (AP)

Greg Lane, 5, and Hopkins, 15, of Baltimore, attend a

Washington news conference on the report. (1st-13A)