HOU014 Housing quality improvements leading to health benefits for children

Percentage of adults receiving housing: Reported by program

% of improved houses solely because of this program: [100%], the percentage of houses that receive services helpful enough to improve health conditions solely because of this program is estimated by Constellation Fund staff using program data. We assume a 100% rate of service for programs covering 100% of the cost of the renovation and serving individuals who would have not been able to do improvements without the support of the program.  If the program covers a fraction of the improvements, we use the percent of costs paid by the program.

Percentage of health and safety problems present in the home which are resolved: [8.2%], the estimated benefits in this metric depend on the extent to which the health and safety problems are present in the homes of participants. We use program data to determine this incidence.

If no program data is available, we use the following prevalence rates for the Twin Cities metropolitan area: We use 8.2% Estimated based on the Adult Self-Reported Current Asthma Prevalence Rate (Percent) and Prevalence (Number) by Income and State or Territory, BRFSS 2010 = 9.6%. This is the rate for individuals in Minnesota with an income less than $25,000/year. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015). The prevalence rate for children is not available at the MSA level. However, at the state level we know that children’s rate is 14 percent lower than adult’s rate of current asthma. We adjust the adult rate by this percentage to approximate the prevalence among children at 8.2%.

QALY increase: [0.02], we estimate a 0.02 QALY value for the remediation of asthma triggers subsequent to housing quality improvement based on the findings of Muennig, Glied & Simon (2005), who report that a comprehensive asthma intervention of medical, education and self-help support produces a 0.05 QALY improvement in the lives of the patients, while medical-only care produces on average 0.03 QALY improvement (Schermer et al, 2002). We apply the 0.02 QALY difference (0.05 – 0.03 = 0.02) as the value of the decrease in home-based asthma triggers through the improvement in quality of the home environment.

$ value per QALY: [$50,000]

Benefits are then discounted to present value based on the average age of participation to life expectancy.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (2008). Asthma in MN. Retrieved from: https://www.cdc.gov/asthma/stateprofiles/Asthma_in_MN.pdf

Muennig, P., Glied, S. & Simon, J. (2005). Estimation of the health benefits produced by Robin Hood Foundation grant recipients. Report to Robin Hood. New York, NY: Robin Hood.

Schermer, T. R., Thoonen, B. P, van den Boom, G., Akkermans, R. P., Grol, R. P., Folgering, H. T., van Weel, C. & van Schayck, C. P. (2002). Randomized controlled economic evaluation of asthma self-management in primary health care. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 166, 1062-1072.