Healthy Homes

One of PSR-LA’s key partners is the Healthy Homes Collaborative (HHC), an association of community-based and health organizations committed to eliminating environmental hazards in homes in Los Angeles County. Together, PSR-LA and HHC plot out the best strategies for improving pest control in homes without overusing and misusing pesticides and reducing lead poisoning.

PSR-LA has prioritized reducing pesticide use in homes and buildings because of the strong research that links pesticide exposure to acute health concerns. In addition to the occurrences of poisonings and allergies, chronic health issues may also develop including cancer and reproductive and neurological disorders. Children are particularly vulnerable to pesticide exposure because of their growing bodies and behaviors.

Recently, PSR-LA and HHC have been training area tenant’s rights organizers and health promoters in low risk pest control approaches or Integrated Pest Management (IPM). IPM focuses of finding out the root causes of why pests are in your home. For example, there may be a plumbing problem, cracks in the wall, or other maintenance concerns that lead to pest problems. It advocates for fixing the structural or maintenance issues first and utilizes least-toxic pesticides as a last resort.

Along with training area organizers and promoters, we are also working to pilot IPM in several multi-unit buildings across the city. These pilot projects will assist us in our future organizing and advocacy activities to improve Los Angeles’ current system for controlling pest infestations in multi-unit buildings.

Our ultimate goal is to have the City require all public- and privately-owned buildings control pest infestations through the use of low-risk pest control or IPM methods. For more information on our pesticide work, please click here.

PSR-LA and HHC worked on legislation which sought to increase the number of children tested for lead poisoning in California by adding lead risk assessments to the yellow immunization card and providing parents with a notification tool that their child should be tested. In addition, the Healthy Homes Collaborative, housed at PSR-LA, has trained hundreds of housing code enforcement inspectors on lead-safe practices allowing the program to reach over 8,000 high-risk low-income tenant and property-owners. For more information on our lead poisoning work, please click here.