The NYS Healthy Neighborhoods Program (HNP) is a healthy homes program that seeks to reduce the burden of housing-related illness and injury. The dataset includes information about building characteristics, primary respondent demographics and the presence/absence of 34 specific housing conditions for dwellings visited by each county program.

This chart shows the percentage of homes with at least one smoker at the initial visit and revisit, by county for the 2009-2014 funding cycle. The chart gives an indication of the ability of the HNP’s smoking intervention (referrals and education) to decrease the prevalence of smoking in the home. The initial visit percentages range across counties from about 8% to almost 60%. There was a substantial reduction in Albany County, but most counties are essentially unchanged which may indicate the difficulty in changing people’s smoking habits. Three counties show no homes with smokers at the revisit, but these are newly funded counties that have conducted very few revisits to date. Because revisits are a subset of the initial visits, closer examination of the dataset is necessary to confirm the number of initial visits and revisits that were conducted before drawing conclusions. Please read the overview document under the “About” tab for more information on the limitations.

This chart shows the percentage of homes where mice were observed or reported at the initial visit and revisit, by county for the 2009-2014 funding cycle. The chart gives an indication of the ability of the HNP environmental intervention to decrease the prevalence of mice in the home. The HNP pest control intervention involves providing products (such as traps and cleaning supplies) and educating residents about removing harborage and food for pests by storing garbage appropriately, cleaning, and repairing holes that give mice entry into the home. In some cases, the HNP contacts local code enforcement or the landlord.
We can see that the initial visit percentages vary substantially across the across counties, which could reflect differing geography, urban versus rural target areas, and the quality of the housing stock. Except for one county, the homes that were selected for a revisit have a lower percentage with mice homes that had an initial visit, indicating an overall reduction in the percentage of homes with mice after the HNP intervention, although mice were not eradicated from all the homes. Oneida and Cortland Counties show no mice in the revisited homes, which could be an indication of success of the intervention and/or the selection of homes to revisit. For Westchester County, it is possible that the homes that the revisited homes were the worst and, therefore, had a higher percentage. These three counties demonstrate why the comparisons need to be interpreted with caution. Because revisits are a subset of the initial visits, the comparison has limitations. Please read the overview document under the “About” tab for more information on the limitations.

Each dwelling visited by the HNP is classified into one of three periods based on the year it was built: before 1950 (“pre-1950”), built 1950-1978, or built after 1978. These periods relate to the general age of the housing. Older housing can present health and safety hazards to their residents. In addition, these groupings coincide with the presence of lead in paint, a health hazard for young children.
For dwellings visited by the Clinton County HNP, this chart displays the percent of homes built in each period by funding cycle. For example, the first set of bars shows the percent of dwellings that were built before 1950 during each of the 3 funding cycles. We can see that Clinton County has increased the percent of the oldest homes from about 10% in the first funding cycle to almost 30% during the current funding cycle. Looking at the orange bars, we see that during the current funding cycle, Clinton County’s HNP has visited about the same percentage of homes built in each time period.
The counties participating in the Healthy Neighborhoods Program can create this type of chart to view trends in how they are targeting their visits. For example, if a county wants to reach older homes, it may want to refocus its efforts on communities with older housing stock. The "About" tab contains additional details concerning this dataset.

This filtered view of the dataset is a list of the county health departments that were granted funds to implement the Healthy Neighborhoods Program (HNP) during each of three funding cycles (2006-2009, 2009-2014, and 2014-2019). The list of county health departments differs across funding cycles. For example, Albany County received funding from 2006-2014, whereas Clinton County has received funding continuously since 2006. It is important to be aware of the funding history for each county when looking at trends in housing demographics and conditions. The "About" tab contains additional details concerning this dataset.