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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Residents with houses built before 1978 can have their homes tested for lead-based paint, which is known to cause serious health issues, and remedied if necessary under the new Lead Safe Housing Program. The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development donated $1.3 million to fund the program.

“This is not an issue for people unless they deal with it, but this can have the absolute worse consequences possible,” Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba said in a video of the press conference on Monday.

Mary Manogin, Lead Safe Housing Program director, said the City of Jackson’s Office of Housing and Community Development received funding for the program in October 2016. The program took a little more than a year to get off the ground because they had to learn what was needed so it could function properly, she said.

“Our inspectors were used to testing lead-based paint, but they weren’t familiar with the HUD way,” Manogin told the Jackson Free Press. “They have specific guidelines that we have to follow to conduct the testing.”

She said the 900-page guideline book showed inspectors how a HUD lead-based paint report should be done. The Office of Housing and Community development changed the process for inspecting from using paint chip samples to using an XRF scanner that inspectors apply on painting surfaces for a digital readings. They also established an in-house procedure to make sure inspectors gave accurate reports and provided training for the approved contractors, she said.

“We’ve tested about 70 houses and, of those 70, a little over 30 of them have come back with lead hazards,” Monagin said at the press conference. So it’s really really important that we get the word out, so you can call us and contact us, so we can remediate your home from lead.”

Read the full story in Jackson Free Press

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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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Monies to Benefit Opening of Upper Bay Beach, Lead Poisoning Prevention, Solar Panels at Salty Brine Beach, Asthma Intervention Among Youth, Environmental Mapping and Data Development, Healthy Homes Initiatives, Environmental Stewardship Education Programs, and Many More

As a result of a previously announced settlement with Volkswagen for violating Rhode Island state laws prohibiting the sale and leasing of diesel vehicles equipped with illegal and undisclosed emissions control defeat device software, Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin announced $4.1 million in funding for a variety of environmentally beneficial projects across the state.

Entities receiving grants include the University of Rhode Island, the City of East Providence, the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM), Rhode Island Department of Health (HEALTH), Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT), HousingWorks RI, the Green & Healthy Homes Initiative (GHHI), the RI Schools Recycling Club, and the Farm Fresh Harvest Kitchen.

Projects range in size and scope and include remediation of storm water runoff issues in East Providence, a roof-top solar array at Salty Brine Beach, the construction of a passage for migratory fish at the John (Jay) Cronan Fishing Access on the Pawcatuck River in Richmond, an autonomous electric shuttle pilot program, lead poisoning prevention and asthma intervention programs, green and healthy homes initiatives, GIS mapping, and educational stewardship programs for at-risk youth, among others.

“A silver lining of Volkswagen’s malfeasance is being turned into a benefit for Rhode Island,” said Attorney General Kilmartin. “It is through this settlement that we can have a real impact on the health and well-being of our citizens and support environmentally beneficial projects right here in Rhode Island. We chose grants based on the ability to most improve the quality of life for Rhode Island citizens, to further reduce harmful emissions from our environment, improve the health of our waterways, offset climate change hazards, and create environmentally-sound educational opportunities for students. I am especially excited about the Sabin Point Beach project, which will aid remediation efforts to finally re-open the Upper Bay beach to swimming after having been closed for decades and provide recreational opportunities for thousands who might not otherwise have access.”

Green & Health Homes Initiative ($500,000): Starting in November 2018, the Green & Healthy Homes Initiative (GHHI) Rhode Island will utilize the $500,000 grant to continue its successful comprehensive housing intervention program to help create safe, energy efficient and stable housing for families in poverty throughout Rhode Island. Through the 18-month program, 200 homes of low income families will receive housing interventions to become more energy efficient, improve indoor air quality and address other issues such as lead hazards, safety hazards and asthma triggers.

The Attorney General’s grant will be leveraged with lead hazard reduction, weatherization and housing rehabilitation programs to allow families to address hazards in their home that often cause them to be deferred from critical housing services they are otherwise eligible to receive.

With previous Attorney General funding support, GHHI Rhode Island and its partners successfully completed 175 comprehensive housing interventions for low income families residing in 23 different cities and towns in Rhode Island.

“Low income families often live in homes that are poorly weatherized and have numerous home-based environmental health hazards that cause high energy bills, increased medical costs and result in negative health and social outcomes,” said GHHI President and CEO Ruth Ann Norton. “With funding support from Attorney General Kilmartin, we have the opportunity to help 200 Rhode Island families live in safer and more financially stable homes where seniors can age in place and children can come to school ready to learn and able to reach their full potential.”

Read the full release here: https://www.ri.gov/press/view/34837

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Childhood lead experts across the country panned a federal action plan to reduce childhood lead exposure that the Trump administration unveiled on Wednesday, criticizing the strategy’s shortcomings, including its failure to commit to the elimination of lead poisoning, update federal standards and regulations with concrete timelines, and specify funding sources to implement its goals.

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SUBSTANDARD HOUSING conditions have been linked to higher rates of infectious disease, chronic illnesses and injuries, but millions of low-income Americans have little choice about where they live.

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