With energy efficiency and green building standards increasingly embedded in residential building practices, the need to assess their impact on indoor environmental quality (IEQ) and health becomes more immediate and critical "to ensure that green housing and healthy housing are in fact synonymous" (HUD 2009:8). There is little research to date that has systematically examined the effects of green building practices on home hazards, IEQ, and residents health; and none of this has focused on one of the most vulnerable populations: low-income elderly (or seniors), the target population of this study. While there are a number of research studies examining a single type of home features (e.g., home hazards) on singular health outcomes (e.g., injuries), none examine the impact of an array of green-building practices on prominent home health concerns of seniors, such as: respiratory ailments; joint and movement impairments; injuries; anxiety and other mental health conditions; and functional limitations. The mounting increase in the numbers of seniors living and aging in homes outside institutionalized-care facilities in the next few decades underscores the importance of addressing those unique risk factors for housing-related illnesses and injuries among older adults in a cost-effective manner.

This project &ndash officially titled Health Performance, Benefit-Cost, and Cost Effectiveness of Green Retrofit Housing for Low-Income Seniors in Phoenix, Arizona – examines how incorporating an array of building changes of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Green Retrofit Program can result in improved indoor environmental quality and health of elderly residents. Rather than reviewing individual building features, the study assesses a green retrofit package in its entirety, and incorporates formal benefit-cost and cost effectiveness calculations on individual health and healthcare costs.