The effect of squalid housing on people’s health is difficult to determine in Sonoma County because there is no study, stockpile of data or government agency that tracks illness in connection with living environments.
Though doctors and scientists are building consensus through research, the connection remains largely anecdotal, witnessed by physicians or reported by tenants’ rights advocates on a case-by-case basis, The Press Democrat found as part of a yearlong investigation into substandard housing in the county.
Sonoma County’s lead health agency, a $247 million department overseeing public health and welfare initiatives for nearly 500,000 residents, does not keep track of housing violations that state officials say can present dire health and safety threats for people who live in slum conditions. County health officials also rarely get involved with investigations into substandard housing allegations.
The county’s Department of Health Services is charged with inspecting restaurants to ensure food is safe, for intervening in mental health and psychiatric crisis and for preventing the spread of infectious diseases, among other mandates.
But county public health officials say they have little role in overseeing housing stock and ensuring its safety. They also have no data on how squalid housing affects the health of local renters....
....A three-year county assessment of the most prevalent and severe local health problems mentioned that living environments can contribute to health disparities, but it did not elaborate.
Some local physicians characterized the lack of data as a shortfall on behalf of the county health department. Without efforts to gather data and track cases, the county cannot adequately gauge the health of its population, the doctors said.
“You don’t know what public health problems you have until you start collecting data,” said Lisa Ward, chief medical officer for the Santa Rosa Community Health Centers, a network of nine health clinics that serves 50,000 patients per year — the vast majority of whom are living in poverty.
Patient care could benefit from collecting information on substandard housing conditions and poor health outcomes, Ward said.....
To continue reading this article by Angela Hart, go to: http://www.pressdemocrat.com/n...h-at-risk-for-sonoma
Comments (0)