HUD Secretary’s Awards for Healthy Homes

Wisconsin's Healthy Housing Initiatives Portfolio (WHHIP) is the recipient of the 2023 HUD Secretary's Award for Excellence in Healthy Homes. This award recognizes a project or program that uses innovative approaches, best practices, policies, research, and community engagement to make significant contributions to reduce exposure to health risks, environmental hazards, and substandard housing, especially in resource-limited communities. HUD chose to award the Secretary's Award for Excellence for Healthy Homes to a single organization for the first time.

“Wisconsin’s Healthy Homes Initiatives Portfolio improved the lives of children with asthma and those threatened by lead exposure in Wisconsin,” said Secretary Marcia L. Fudge. “Through collaboration, evidence-based policy, and strong commitment to sustainability, this project stood out in a large group of worthy nominations.”

WHHIP—a project within Wisconsin’s Bureau of Environmental and Occupational Health—developed and launched initiatives to decrease residential lead paint hazards for at-risk populations, implement in-home asthma education, and implement low-cost home modifications in the homes of Wisconsin children.

WHHIP’s core elements are the Asthma-Safe Homes Program (ASHP) and the Lead-Safe Homes Program (LSHP). ASHP was built upon a multi-year CDC-funded home-visiting pilot program for individuals with poorly controlled asthma. The LSHP program prioritizes enrollment of properties where children have been lead poisoned but can also enroll and abate properties before children become poisoned or even exposed. Both rental and owner-occupied properties are eligible to apply. A key integrator of the WHHIP is the Healthy Homes Work Group, a cross-program collaboration that seeks to develop and deploy a narrative about housing as a social determinant of health.