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(05/27/22) BATON ROUGE, La. — Today in the United States, people spend close to 90% of their time indoors. National Healthy Homes Month is an outreach campaign designed to help people connect the dots between their health and their home.
Created by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes, National Healthy Homes Month focuses on the importance of home assessments and the impact that awareness can have on your health.
“While many people across Louisiana associate June 1 as the beginning of hurricane season preparation, there are other ways to improve our homes and make them a healthier place to live,” said Carol Friedland, director of the LSU AgCenter LaHouse Home and Landscape Resource Center. “Now is also the perfect time to learn more about making homes across Louisiana more sustainable, resilient and healthy.”
Currently, millions of U.S. homes have moderate to severe physical housing problems, including dilapidated structures; roofing problems; heating, plumbing and electrical deficiencies; water leaks and intrusion; pests; damaged paint; and high radon gas levels.
These conditions are associated with a wide range of health issues, including unintentional injuries, lead poisoning and respiratory illnesses such as asthma and radon-induced lung cancer. The health and economic burdens from preventable hazards within homes are considerable and cost billions of dollars, Friedland said.
LaHouse is a one-stop resource for information on sustainable, resilient and healthy homes in the Gulf region’s climate. Visitors can explore the home’s signs, reveals, displays and free educational material to learn more about the advantages of a healthy home. The facility is open weekdays from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
To learn more about the resources available at LaHouse, visit www.lsuagcenter.com/LaHouse.
For more information on National Healthy Homes Month 2022, visit www.hud.gov/healthyhomes.
The LSU AgCenter and the LSU College of Agriculture
