Healthy Homes Contractors

NEHA Healthy Homes Specialist

Healthy Homes Specialist is a national program that credentials individuals who have demonstrated competency and experience in assessing a home for potential health problems and code violations. The individual must have five years of experience, pass an exam, and complete a visual survey exercise. See http://www.nchh.org/Training/Healthy-Homes-Specialist-Credential.aspx for more information. NEHA launched the program in partnership with NCHH in 2007.

NEHA does not have an advisory board to guide the program relying instead on NCHH and the training partners in the National Healthy Homes Training Center and Network. See http://www.nchh.org/Training/National-Healthy-Homes-Training-Center.aspx.

Three cautions:

• Individuals and not firms are credentialed. Therefore, make sure the individual who is credentialed directly supervises the healthy homes assessment.
• There is no specific protocol for a healthy homes assessment. Therefore, you may want an individual who has another credential related to environmental health or to home inspection.
• There is no formal advisory board to guide the program or consider complaint.

Contact information:

• Website: www.neha.org/credential/HHS
• Search for members: www.neha.org/credential/HHS
• Complaints: hshaw@neha.org
• Contact Person: Heidi Shaw
• General Phone: 303-756-9090
• Email: hshaw@neha.org
• Address: NEHA, 720 S. Colorado Blvd., Ste. 1000-N, Denver, CO 80246
• Documentation: Ask for a copy of the individual's Healthy Homes Specialist certificate. The certificate must have a six digit number beginning with the number 9. It must be renewed every two years so check to make sure it is current.