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The primary activity includes the remediation of housing units with significant health and safety hazards. The technical studies grantees will conduct research on the potential indoor environmental and occupant health benefits of new green-built public housing and low income housing that has received weatherization upgrades.

Project/Activity: Grantees will develop, demonstrate and promote cost effective, preventive measures to correct multiple safety and health hazards in the home environment that produce serious diseases and injuries in children. Through this grant program housing units are remediated of significant health and safety hazards.
Description: The major objectives of the Healthy Homes Demonstration Program include the following: (1) Identify and remediate priority health hazards in high risk target housing where environmental conditions may contribute to a child’s illness or risk of injury; (2) Support public education and outreach that furthers the goal of protecting children and other vulnerable populations from environmentally induced illnesses; (3) Develop a professional workforce that is trained in healthy homes principles; (4) Evaluate the efficacy of healthy homes program activities and facilitate the dissemination of findings, with a focus on evidence-based best practices; (5) Increase public awareness of housing related environmental health and safety hazards that threaten the health of children and other vulnerable populations; (6) Further the principles of environmental justice and fair housing by increasing the availability of safe, low income housing.
Funding: $17,167,142.00

Project/Activity: The grantees will conduct research on the potential indoor environmental and occupant health benefits of new green- built public housing and low income housing that has received weatherization upgrades.
Description: In the first study, researchers will recruit households from 300 new Chicago public housing units that were built using green practices and assess indoor environmental quality and health status of residents compared to residents in 100 new public housing units built using conventional methods. In the second study, researchers will assess the health status of low income residents living in 400 units of low income multifamily housing in Chicago and 150 units in Boston before and after the units receive weatherization upgrades. A subset of these units will also be assessed for indoor environmental quality.
Funding: $1,766,552.00

Project/Activity : HUD will provide training, technical assistance, monitoring, enforcement, and research and evaluation activities.
Description: HUD will hire staff, build IT systems and work with grantees to ensure effective and efficient implementation.
Funding: $95,000.00

(1) Data Collection and Reporting
a. Work Plan Submissions: These identify the plan for the use of funds for each grantee. During grant negotiations, a final budget is established and issued within the grant award form (SF-1044). After award, the grantee must submit a work plan that describes the work they will complete with the use of grant funds.
b. Financial Reports: HUD has two financial reports that will be generated and analyzed on a weekly basis. These include a Summary Financial Report that indicates the amount of funds for each program, and a Funding Notification Report, which shows the amount of funding by program for every jurisdiction, including local governments and some states.
c. Quarterly Recipient Reports: The cornerstone of HUD’s monitoring and evaluation system is the project and contract data collected from grantees. The Recovery Act specifically requires data collection fields for grantees and contractors. In addition, grantees will report lead safe units completed, outreach/training events, funds draw downs and other progress indicators by using Quarterly Performance Reporting System (QPRS) a system developed by the Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control (OHHLHC).

(2) Ongoing Grantee Management : Government Technical Representatives (GTRs) are responsible for monitoring grantee performance, program implementation, and the processes by which OHHLHC management use to assess grantee risk. The OHHLHC Grants “Desk Guide” (available on our website) establishes standards and provides guidance for monitoring OHHLHC Programs. OHHLHC staff view monitoring not as a once a year or periodic exercise, but as an ongoing process involving continuous communication and evaluation, including frequent telephone/email contacts, written communications, analysis of reports and audits, and periodic meetings. It is also an OHHLHC policy that all grantees receive an on-site monitoring visit at the end of the first year of the grant. There are several processes used to identifying program risks and to set monitoring priorities, including conducting an annual risk analysis and reviewing quarterly submissions. The GTRs use a core set of risk criteria in their analyses, including the status of performance indicators as set forth in the grantee work plans (e.g., the LHC program uses five factors: Number of inspections proposed/completed; Number of units proposed/completed; Expenditures proposed/completed; Number of trainings proposed/completed; Number of outreach actions proposed/completed). Additional information about the OHHLHC’s Risk Analysis process, including the development of a Monitoring Plan, is discussed in the OHHLHC’s Desk Guide.

(3) Longer Term Evaluation and Research: The data from these programs will be used to achieve the Healthy Homes Initiative’s Departmental Strategic Goal objective of reducing allergen levels in 5,000 units by 2011, and correspondingly, reducing asthmatic episodes for 3,000 children living in those units. In addition, grantees must collect, maintain, and provide to HUD the data necessary to document the various approaches used to evaluate and control housing-related environmental health and safety hazards, including assessment and remediation methods, building conditions, medical and familial information (with confidentiality of individually-identifiable information ensured) in order to determine the long-term effectiveness and relative cost of these methods.

With respect to reporting, OMB has issued detailed guidance on the requirements for recipients of the Recovery Act funds. Specifically, each prime and first tier recipient is required to report specified information to HUD 10 days after the end of each calendar quarter. This includes but is not limited to a detailed list of all projects and activities for which Recovery Act funds were obligated or expended, an evaluation of the completion status of the project or activity, and an estimate of the number of jobs created or retained. In addition to the overarching requirements of the Recovery Act, HUD has also identified a number of program-specific measures that will be collected through this reporting process.

HUD expects that the transparency requirements of the Recovery Act, specifically the requirement to publish both spending and recipient performance reports, will create accountability amongst its managers and grantees. That said, HUD will establish additional internal management controls to create a greater level of accountability for performance. The HUD Recovery Act program management team will work with the leads of the program and cross-cutting teams to prepare a bi-weekly program snapshot report for the steering committee to review with the Deputy Secretary and Secretary. Drawing from the program and risk management plans, the reports will include summary-level quantitative financial and programmatic performance measures and targets, key milestones, and issues or risks. Interim spending and performance targets will be set to ensure that annual objectives from the program plans are met. Performance data will be summarized by grantee risk category, as defined in the agency’s risk management plan. Performance measure targets and milestones that are missed, or that are in jeopardy of being missed, will be accompanied by an explanation of the reasons why, including any issues affecting progress and the specific plan for their resolution or mitigation. The report will also identify specific grantees with performance issues, and summarize the actions being taken to address them. In addition to the bi-weekly reporting, each program team will meet with the Secretary, Deputy Secretary and Steering Committee on a monthly basis to review a more detailed set of Recovery Act performance measures. On a quarterly basis, these monthly meetings will include updated grant recipient data described above.

This program does not invest in Federal infrastructure. However, for HUD’s programs that include construction or rehabilitation or are Federal investments in privately owned housing: New buildings and major renovations financed through formula grants are required to meet local energy codes. New construction and major renovations financed through some competitive grant programs will, in the case of single family homes, be built to the standard for Energy Star for New Homes (15 percent more efficient than the 2004 International Residential Code); or in the case of multifamily buildings to exceed ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air-conditioning Engineers) Code 90.1 2007, Appendix G, by 20 percent. HUD’s competitive program requirements also ensure that new construction and major renovations follow sustainable design and green construction principles to (1) optimize energy efficiency and performance; (2) employ integrated design principles (and controls); (3) protect and conserve water; (4) enhance indoor air quality; and (5) reduce environmental impact of materials used.