Airborne pollutants inside urban homes—such as particulate matter, mold, volatile organic compounds, and harmful gasses like nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide—can quietly trigger coughing, asthma flare-ups and other respiratory problems.
To tackle these hidden health hazards and help families breathe easier, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has awarded the University of Texas at Arlington an $860,147 research grant to investigate the effects of residential interventions—changes or improvements made within homes to reduce indoor air pollutants and improve health outcomes—in urban homes across Dallas-Fort Worth.
Insung Kang, assistant professor of civil engineering and director of the Built Environment and Health Research Group at UTA, will lead the study.
"This grant will allow us to take a comprehensive approach to testing different residential interventions to improve air quality and health in homes," Dr. Kang said. "We will evaluate how energy recovery ventilators, which provide filtered outdoor air for the whole home, and portable High-Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) cleaners, which remove airborne particles in targeted rooms, differ in their effectiveness at reducing exposure to indoor pollutants and helping to improve asthma-related health outcomes."
The Environmental Protection Agency says the air inside homes can be two to five times more polluted than the air outside. In cities, the problem is even worse. Homes may be close to heavy traffic areas or other outdoor pollution that can seep inside, while also dealing with indoor sources like cooking and cleaning products. Together, these create a harmful mix of indoor air contaminants.
The study brings together a team of leading experts in engineering and environmental health, including June Young Park, assistant professor of civil engineering at UTA; Yike Shen, assistant professor of earth and environmental sciences at UTA; and local community partner Tia LaFavor, the executive director of Rebuilding Together North Texas, a nonprofit organization dedicated to repairing and improving homes for low-income families.
"Rebuilding Together North Texas is proud to partner on this important study to address the hidden hazards inside homes that directly impact families' health," LaFavor said. "By connecting research with the realities our neighbors face, we can ensure healthier, safer homes and stronger communities. As executive director, I see how critical it is to tackle these issues head-on so that families don't have to choose between their health and their home."
