Several federal agencies recently unveiled Advancing Healthy Housing – A
Strategy for Action. White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ)
Chair Nancy Sutley, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa P.
Jackson, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Shaun Donovan, Surgeon
General Regina Benjamin, M.D., and Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman
discussed the new plan during an event at the National Building Museum this
morning.
The initiative represents a bold new vision for addressing the
nation’s health and economic burdens caused by preventable hazards associated
with the home. The Strategy for Action encourages federal agencies to
take preemptive actions that will help reduce the number of American homes with
health and safety hazards.
People in the United States spend about 70
percent of their time in a home. Currently, millions of U.S. homes have moderate
to severe physical housing problems, including dilapidated structure; roofing
problems; heating, plumbing, and electrical deficiencies; water leaks and
intrusion; pests; damaged paint; and high radon gas levels. These conditions are
associated with a wide range of health issues, including unintentional injuries,
respiratory illnesses like asthma and radon-induced lung cancer, lead poisoning,
result in lost school days for children, as well as lost productivity in the
labor force. The health and economic burdens from preventable hazards associated
with the home are considerable, and cost billions of dollars.
The
Strategy for Action unifies, for the first time, federal action to
advance healthy housing, demonstrating the connection between housing conditions
and residents’ health. It also promotes strategies and methods intended to
reduce in-home health hazards in a cost-effective manner.
“It is clear
that unhealthy and unsafe housing has an impact on the health of millions of
people in the United States, which is why we must do everything we can to ensure
that individuals and families have a healthy place to call home,” says HUD
Secretary Shaun Donovan. “Today’s announcement will help the federal government
unify action to controlling and preventing major housing-related exposures and
hazards.”
“Thanks to unprecedented collaboration across the federal
family and among our many partners, we now have a specific plan for action to
address radon and other preventable hazards found in homes across the country.
This is important progress, especially when you consider that people spend an
estimated 70 percent of their time inside a home,” says EPA Administrator Lisa
P. Jackson. “At EPA we’re committed to ensuring Americans in all communities
have healthy places to live, work and play, and the strategy we announced today
is a critical step toward reaching that goal.”
“Healthy homes and
communities are essential to our quality of life, our productivity, and our
economic vitality,” says Nancy Sutley, Chair of the Council on Environmental
Quality. “Through this plan, Federal agencies have committed to working together
to make sure all Americans can count on safe, healthy places to live, grow, and
thrive.”
Dr. Mary Jean Brown, Chief of CDC’s Healthy Homes and Lead
Poisoning Prevention Branch adds, “Healthy homes lead to healthier lives. People
can take simple steps to protect themselves from health hazards in the
home.”
“Energy efficiency and healthy homes are inextricably linked,”
explains U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman. “We cannot, in good
conscience, pursue one in the absence of the other. DOE is committed to ensuring
that our efforts towards creating an efficient national housing stock also
strive to maximize the health and safety of the families we serve.”
The
overall vision for the Strategy is to reduce the number of American homes with
residential health and safety hazards, achieved through five goals:
1.
Establish healthy homes recommendations
2. Encourage adoption of healthy
homes recommendations
3. Create and support training and workforce
development to address health hazards in housing
4. Educate the public about
healthy homes
5. Support research that informs and advances healthy housing
in a cost-effective manner
For more on the Strategy for Action,
visit the interagency Healthy Homes website, http://healthyhomes.hud.gov.