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Healthy Housing Policy Agenda: The Alliance for Healthy Homes
and the National Center for Healthy Housing call on leadership from all
levels of government and the private sector to create healthful housing
for families in America through practical policy approaches.
Research,
Hazard Intervention and National Outreach for Healthier Housing Act
(RHINO-HH): Senate bill S. 3654, introduced by Senator Jack Reed (D-RI)
in September 2008, emphasizes cost-effective approaches and market-based
incentives to make homes healthier and safer without detracting from their
affordability. The multi-faceted legislation aims to improve research,
enhance the capacity of federal programs, and expand national outreach
efforts.
Bill provisions include:
• Provides funding for existing federal housing programs, such as
CDBG, HOME, and LIHEAP to add healthy homes components to their programs.
• Leverages the private market interest in healthy homes by creating
a voluntary “Healthy Homes Seal of Approval” modeled after
the successful Energy Star program.
• Authorizes $7,000,000 for each of the next five years for the
National Institute of Environmental Health Science and the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to evaluate the health risks and
human health effects of indoor exposure to chemical pollutants including
carbon monoxide, chemical asthma triggers, and common household and garden
pesticides.
• Authorizes $6,000,000 for the Department of Housing and Urban
Development (HUD) to study methods for the assessment and control of housing-related
health hazards.
• Provides $10,000,000 for HUD and CDC to study the indoor environmental
quality of existing housing and to create a system for monitoring housing
related hazards.
For a summary of the bill, please visit this
page on the National Center for Healthy Housing website.
Remodeling, Repair and Painting Rule
On March 31, 2008 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released
its final
lead-safe remodeling, repair and painting rule. EPA's announcement
of the rule followed years of regulatory delay.
The rule requires contractors and workers who work in older homes and
child-occupied facilities to take simple, low-cost precautions to avoid
creating and spreading lead debris and dust, and to clean up any dust
or debris that is generated. The rule also requires the firms and renovators
that are disturbing lead paint to be certified and to have at least one
employee who has completed a one-day lead-safe work practices training
and, as a result, is a "certified" renovator. Renovators are
responsible for providing “on-the-job” training for other
workers. Power sanding, open flame burning, and sandblasting of painted
surfaces are prohibited by the rule.
Click here
to read the Alliance’s and National Center for Healthy Housing’s
joint press release on the final remodeling and renovation rule. While
they applaud EPA’s final regulation to protect families from unsafe
renovation, repair, and painting work, there are several problems in the
final regulation that deserve serious attention. The Alliance and NCHH
have proposed a Legislative
Agenda to strengthen the rule.
Background
In 1992, Congress instructed EPA to develop regulations to create
standards for conducting lead abatement activities and to ensure that
other renovation and repair activities do not create lead hazards that
could harm children. EPA followed through with the abatement side, creating
a structure for training, licensing, and regulating the lead abatement
industry. However, work done during the course of renovation—which
affects many more properties than lead abatement—was left unregulated
by EPA contrary to congressional mandate. After more than a decade of
false starts, EPA finally got serious about issuing a rule in response
to political and legal threats in 2005. To read the Alliance’s comments
on EPA’s draft rule, click here.
Next Steps
The EPA is giving states a year to step forward and seek authorization
to enforce the rule within their jurisdictions. In February 2009, EPA
finalized a revised lead-safe work practices training course and other
educational and outreach materials. As of April 2009, training providers
may apply for accreditation to teach the eight-hour lead-safe work practices
and a four-hour refresher course. In October 2009, renovators and firms
may start applying for certifications. By April 2010, all requirements
of the rule go into full effect, and thereafter only certified firms and
individuals may legally perform the work covered by the regulation. The
National Center for Healthy Housing and the Alliance for Healthy Homes
developed a
list of proposed fixes that EPA or states could make to the
Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule when they consider the revisions
or adoption of the rule.
On Aug. 21, 2008, the EPA issued a Federal
Register notice on the fee structure for multiple lead disciplines.
The EPA’s fees cover training providers, firms, and workers seeking
accreditation under existing lead disciplines as well as the fees to be
collected from trainers and firms under the new remodeling and renovation
rule. Read Alliance staff member Jane Malone's comment
to the EPA on the proposed fee structure.
Resources
Summary
of EPA’s final RRP rule
RRP
Key Requirements Brochure
Sample
press release for local advocacy around the rule and its implementation
Comparison
of De Minimus requirements in Federal Lead Rules
Advocates'
Recommendations for Renovation, Repair, and Painting Program Rules
HUD Issues Voluntary IPM Guidance in Reaction to Complaints about
its Pesticide Policy
In October 2003, a number of groups and states Attorneys General called
on the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to comply
with an existing federal law governing the pest management activities
of federal agencies. The groups and Attorneys General urged HUD to revise
the Department’s regulations to require integrated
pest management (IPM) practices at HUD-funded public housing
developments. The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act
mandates that “[f]ederal agencies shall use Integrated Pest Management
techniques in carrying out pest management activities and shall promote
Integrated Pest Management through procurement and regulatory policies
and other activities.” However, at the time, HUD regulations did
not address the issue for the 3,300 public housing authorities nationwide
that manage HUD-funded developments.
Despite December 2003 and November 2004 responses asserting the adequacy
of its past IPM efforts, in February 2006, HUD issued voluntary
IPM guidelines for all public housing agencies. The guidelines
recommend making IPM information available to public housing managers
and "encourage" public housing agencies to use IPM in their
properties. The guidelines contain no requirements or mandates about the
use of IPM.
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