Lead Free Mississippi / Healthy Housing Policy Project

Home is where we spend most of our lives, so it is important that we make sure our living spaces are as healthy as possible. In the Mississippi Delta, the old and deteriorating housing stock presents many potential health hazards that can be a challenge to address, including lead-based paint, asbestos, mold, and electrical issues. There are challenges on many fronts: financial, logistical, and educational. With community support, the Lead Free Mississippi coalition aims to address them all through its Healthy Housing Policy Project.

The Jackson, Mississippi branch of the Green and Healthy Housing Initiative and other members of Lead Free MS are working with several communities in Mississippi on this project to address health hazards in housing. Delta Design Build Workshop is serving as the regional coordinator in Leflore County, helping to raise awareness about environmental home health hazards and develop strategies to address these issues. The ultimate goal of this project is to expand community-based capacity to create and enforce lead safety and healthy housing standards.

To achieve this goal, we hope to build awareness of the health impacts of housing quality and implement targeted capacity building efforts for community engagement and education, code services, workforce training, and fundraising for housing interventions in existing affordable housing stock.

We welcome anyone interested to join this community by signing the pledge to Screen Birth to 6 and receive updates related to the coalition's work.

CALL TO ACTION

Lead poisoning can create a lifetime of poor outcomes for kids, but it is 100% preventable.

Lead poisoning can cause irreversible brain and nervous system damage, delayed growth and development, violent and aggressive behavior, and learning and behavioral problems. Children under the age of 6 and pregnant women are at the highest risk of experiencing the impacts of lead exposure, and it only takes the equivalent of 3 granules of sugar to poison a child.

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Lead poisoning affects an estimated 535,000 children younger than 6 annually in the United States, but in Mississippi many cases may be undiagnosed. In 2016 the statewide lead screening rate was only 17.9 percent of children under age 6, meaning many families are living in environments without awareness of the potential health risk of lead for their kids.

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ACTIVITIES

Delta DB is helping GHHI Jackson assess the status of health-related housing issues in Leflore County by distributing surveys and coordinating interviews with community members. This community feedback will help us identify goals related to capacity building for local engagement, education, partnership development, fundraising, and/or policy implementation. 

When the research phase is complete, Delta DB and GHHI will engage local governments, businesses, institutions of higher learning, and others as well as statewide organizations to review findings and discuss the feasibility of implementing recommendations. 

Finally, Lead Free Mississippi will produce a Mississippi Property Maintenance Policy Health Impact Report including:

a. Community assessments of need and capacity for participating jurisdictions;

b. Proposals and alternatives to mitigate adverse health effects of substandard housing;

c. Summaries of any successful implementation actions;

d. Recommendations for statewide housing code policy development opportunities; and

e. Rental Registration and similar program design models based on research of communities with similar characteristics.

Online Survey | Download in English | Descargar en Español

If you would like to discuss these issues in more depth, please contact Catherine Lee at clee@ghhi.org.

RESOURCES

Lead Free MS has compiled home health and lead poisoning prevention resources for the following stakeholder groups:

• Parents & Families
• Healthcare Providers
• Early Childcare
• Property Owners
• Home Repair Workers
• Local Government