Mold reduction resulted in 2,798 fewer emergency department visits per year.


Citywide Mold Busters initiative from the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) reduced asthma-related emergency department (ED) visits for public housing residents, according to new research being presented at AAAAI 2026.

“Our study demonstrates that the system-wide mold intervention, Mold Busters, is making a difference for NYC public housing residents by successfully intervening on mold that triggers severe asthma attacks necessitating a visit to the emergency department,” says lead author Nina Flores, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Texas Austin and recent graduate from Columbia University’s Environmental Health Sciences department. “Beyond the health-related benefits we capture with emergency department visit data, it is likely that Mold Busters is delivering other benefits to NYC public housing residents, including the prevention of new asthma cases, as well as the prevention of less severe asthma symptoms and other allergic reactions that may necessitate school and work absences and unscheduled medical appointments outside of the emergency department.” 

This study highlights the impact of citywide public housing mold intervention as a public health initiative; however, researchers make note that the impact of extreme precipitation suggests that additional targeted, climate-focused interventions may be necessary.

In the study, researchers examined data on asthma-related ED visits among NYCHA residents from 2016 to 2023 and compared it to data obtained from a Mold Busters unexposed group living in proximate, non-NYCHA lower-income census tracts. To assess the impact of Mold Busters, a program from the NYCHA to remediate mold, researchers used doubly robust differences-in-differences analyses and resident-reported building-level data to evaluate changes in mold work orders after Mold Busters intervention, while considering extreme precipitation events and building and neighborhood characteristics.

The Mold Busters intervention was associated with an average annual reduction of nine asthma-related ED visits per 1,000 residents, translating to an average of 2,798 fewer ED visits per year. The effects were stronger for adults and those in buildings that experienced larger decreases in mold reports.