GHHI is pleased to support the Lead Free Future Act, Rep. Jared Golden’s bold plan to put in place at-scale lead hazard remediation investment and national health and housing standards based on GHHI’s National Strategic Plan to End Childhood Lead Poisoning. The Lead Free Future Act establishes $12 billion in funding over 5 years ($2.4 billion per year) to address lead-based paint hazards, replace lead service lines and remediate lead hazards in soil in the 1.1 million properties where young children from low income families reside and which are most at-risk for lead hazards.The Act increases funding for the Centers for Disease Control’s Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program to $500 million over 5 years ($100 million per year) and requires states’ level of action be aligned with the CDC blood lead reference level in order to receive lead surveillance or hazard remediation funds. Lastly, it mandates that all federally-assisted properties, those receiving federal mortgage or rental assistance, receive lead hazard risk assessment and hazard remediation prior to sale or occupancy so that the federal government no longer participates in keeping lead hazardous homes on the US market.

GHHI is pleased to support the Opportunity Zone Lead Remediation Impact Act of 2019, Rep. Elijah Cumming’s innovative plan to ensure that the substantial national investment in Opportunity Zones works to prevent lead poisoning and to bring housing to a higher standard of health and safety. The Act requires complete lead hazard remediation in properties redeveloped with Opportunity Zones investment and mandates a 2% set aside for the remediation of lead hazards in schools and childcare facilities in the Opportunity Zone.

GHHI is also pleased to support Rep. Tim Ryan’s GET THE LEAD OUT Act, a proposal for a substantive federal investment of $100 billion to replace all lead service lines and to remove lead-based paint from 7 million homes nationwide.

These critical legislative initiatives point to a unique moment of opportunity to create meaningful investments in lead poisoning prevention, leveraged by health-protective standards. We invite you to join GHHI in support of these bills. Together, we can end lead poisoning for this and future generations.

Ruth Ann Norton
President and CEO
Green & Healthy Homes Initiative

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The EPA RRP Rule was designed to close a loophole that had existed and to make sure that renovation activities that disturb lead-based paint in older properties were performed safely and by trained personnel. The full EPA OIG report can be found at:

https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2019-09/documents/_epaoig_20190909-19-p-0302.pdf

The EPA OIG summary can be found at:

https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2019-09/documents/_epaoig_20190909-19-p-0302_glance.pdf

To access the full report visit: GHHI

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“I am honored to award and congratulate the winners of the 2019 National Environmental Leadership Award in Asthma Management on behalf of EPA,” said EPA Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation Bill Wehrum. “These outstanding programs are on the front lines of asthma care, improving lives, delivering real solutions, and helping the many Americans who battle asthma. We are proud to recognize leaders in the field who are providing comprehensive, in-home care and education every day, while setting the standard for asthma care and management.”

The Rhode Island Department of Health Asthma Control Program, based in Providence, R.I., serves children with asthma ages 0-17 in high poverty, urban cities throughout the state. The program partners with organizations including Hasbro Children’s Hospital, St. Joseph Health Center, New England Asthma Regional Council, United HealthCare and the Green and Healthy Homes Initiative to deliver care. The evidence-based Home Asthma Response Program (HARP), which uses certified asthma educators and community health workers, conducts up to three intensive in-home sessions, including tailored environmental services. HARP’s community health workers reported reductions in environmental triggers including mold, pests, dust, pets, tobacco smoke and chemicals. In addition, using hospital claims data, the program was able to show a 75 percent reduction in asthma-related hospital and emergency department costs for HARP participants. And, for every dollar invested in HARP participants, the program realized a $1.33 return on investment. The program recently expanded to provide HARP home visiting services statewide for Medicaid-enrolled children.

Read the full press release at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

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Last year’s rainfall exacerbated damp conditions, breeding a perfect atmosphere for mold, according to advocates, officials and renters. Such growth had long been a bane to poorer tenants renting older homes in neighborhoods where health data shows residents suffer disproportionately from asthma.

The rainy year caused significant trouble across the region: Mosquitoes multiplied to three times the normal number in Maryland, tomatoes cracked and sunflowers rotted and some farmers lost entire crops, and hundreds of students living on campus at the University of Maryland, College Park, were displaced by mold infestations.

In Baltimore, City Councilman Bill Henry plans on Monday to call for an informational hearing. Advocates want air-quality testing and requirements to treat the fungus like lead paint when it threatens a person’s health.

Read the full story, visit at The Baltimore Sun

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The Lead Reduction and Remediation Act, sponsored by Del. Jared Solomon, a Montgomery County Democrat, toughens standards on how much lead can be in a school’s water to the lowest traceable amount and requires the public reporting of positive test results. It also gives schools access to the $30 million Healthy School Facility Fund for remediation efforts for water outlets used for drinking or food preparation.

But after some school systems complained that wasn’t enough money for repairs, the bill was amended in the Senate to no longer mandate that schools must repair the lead contaminated water outlets — only that they must shut them off, Solomon said.

The bill also was amended to no longer require the replacement of lead-contaminated school water fountains or faucets that are not currently in use, such as those in Baltimore schools that have been turned off for years. The legislation now states it’s the legislature’s
intent that schools “proactively” work to repair the lead-contaminated water fountains.

Read the full article in The Baltimore Sun

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Those are a few of many unhealthy housing conditions that directly impact our emotional and mental health. Living in unsafe, unhealthy conditions, without any way to fix it, can leave a person stressed, agitated and depressed even if they’re not aware of it.

“The people who face the toughest time finding an affordable place to live also encounter the most difficulty meeting their health-care needs,” says Tyler Norris, MDiv, chief executive for Well Being Trust, a foundation dedicated to advancing the nation’s mental, social and spiritual health. “Health and housing are intrinsically linked.”

“How people feel in their environment has a massive impact on their mental health,” adds Ruth Ann Norton, president of Green & Healthy Homes Initiative (GHHI), an organization devoted to creating and advocating for healthy, safe, energy-efficient homes. “Our home contributes to our health as much as nutrition and exercise.”

The affects of a toxic home manifest more quickly than they resolve. UK and Australian researchers analyzed housing and mental health issues using data from more than 16,000 people between 1996 and 2008. Results showed that people experiencing poor housing (adequate light and heat, dampness, leaking roof, rotted walls and/or floors) for even one year reported poorer mental health than people with good housing. Once the poor conditions were removed, people continued to report a lower quality of life for four more years.

To read the full story, visit: SF Gate

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Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-Ill., a member of the House Appropriations Committee, which oversees funding for HUD, said she was disturbed by the federal housing agency’s “clear negligence on this issue.”

“The buck stops with them and with Secretary Carson,” Bustos said. “Complacence is not an option when lives are on the line, and I hope HUD hears that message loud and clear.”

NBC News found that at least 11 deaths in federally subsidized housing since 2003 were caused by carbon monoxide poisoning, most recently in January when two men died in a public housing complex in Columbia, South Carolina. HUD does not require carbon monoxide detectors in public housing and has been slow to combat the hazards posed by the gas, public health experts and housing advocates say.

To read the full story, visit: NBC News

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On Friday, Baltimore’s House delegation voted to endorse two proposals to try to curb lead poisoning: one that would tighten restrictions to try to make sure landlords aren’t renting properties with chipping lead paint and another that would open up lead paint companies to lawsuits to pay for remediation programs.

Del. Nick J. Mosby and Sen. Jill P. Carter, both of West Baltimore, are sponsoring legislation that would permit lawsuits in Baltimore courts against manufacturers of lead paint whether or not a specific company’s product can be proved to have poisoned a specific person.

Such legislation has been introduced — and killed — repeatedly in Annapolis over the past two decades, in the face of staunch industry opposition. But Mosby said Friday that he will continue to push for the legislation every year while he’s in office.

You may read the full article in The Baltimore Sun

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State lawmakers are working this year to expand upon legislation passed two years ago that shined a light on elevated lead levels in the drinking water at thousands of Maryland schools.

Del. Jared Solomon (D-Montgomery) and Sen. Cory McCray (D-Baltimore City) are sponsoring a bill that would lower the acceptable level of lead in Maryland school water fixtures and create a state grant program to fund remediation efforts.

“Our children spend the better part of their day in schools and we need to know their water is safe. Kids’ are particularly susceptible to lead and any exposure can have a debilitating effect on the way they learn, grow and behave,” Solomon said.

House Bill 1253 lowers the actionable amount of lead levels in school drinking water from 20 parts per billion to no more than 5 parts per billion, the Food and Drug Administration limit for lead in bottled water.

You may read the full story in Maryland Matters

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