| Indoor human exposure to toxins is a significant
environmental problem and a pressing environmental justice issue. Indoor
environmental hazards typically pose far greater risks to human health than
outdoor exposures— this is a function both of the higher levels of
toxics associated with confined spaces and the significant amount of time
people spend indoors. The problem of housing-related environmental health
hazards constitutes one of the most clear, onerous, and critical cases of
environmental injustice. Health hazards in homes tend to be highly concentrated
in lower-income communities and communities of color, and they disproportionately
harm poor and minority families. Nevertheless, researchers, regulators,
policy makers, advocates, and the media often fail to appreciate the significance
of housing-related environmental hazards, and even many environmental groups
overlook indoor exposure to toxins.
The burden of housing-related health risks falls unfairly on communities
of color because exposure to hazards is directly related
to substandard housing conditions that are most prevalent in lower-income
communities and communities of color.
These housing-related environmental problems are compounded by many other
factors often associated with low-income minority communities: inadequate
access to health care and health information, higher proportion of recent
immigrants (who may have had some harmful environmental exposures before
arriving in the US), language barriers, housing discrimination that limits
choices, credit redlining, a weak tax base, inadequate public and social
services, higher concentrations of renters (who have less control than
homeowners over their housing conditions), higher rates of unemployment
and underemployment, and relative lack of political power. Residents of
such communities are also more likely to live near other pollution sources,
compounding their risk of harmful toxic exposure.
On the other hand, effective programs to identify and address hazards
in housing can have substantial spillover benefits that directly promote
environmental justice. Improvement of the housing stock, an enhanced tax
base, gains in skills and employment, better schools, a safer and healthier
environment, political empowerment, increased community pride, and healthier
people are all likely outcomes of a successful community effort to address
this problem. Protecting residents from environmental hazards in their
homes is an integral goal in an environmental justice agenda.
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