Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS -- (Senate - September 29, 2008)

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By Mr. REED:

S. 3654. A bill to improve research on health hazards in housing, to enhance the capacity of programs to reduce such hazards, to require outreach, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.

Mr. REED. Mr. President, I introduce today the Research, Hazard Intervention, and National Outreach for Healthier Homes Act. I am introducing this legislation because decent and safe housing is possibly one of the most critical determinants of our overall health and well-being. Indeed, where we live greatly affects how we live.

A June 2006 report from the World Health Organization entitled ``Preventing Disease Through Healthy Environments,'' found that environmental exposures contribute to almost one-quarter of the disease burden worldwide, resulting in millions of preventable deaths each year. Through scientific research, we know that an individual's environment can lead to cardiovascular disease, asthma, and lead poisoning, as well as many other diseases and conditions.

The connection between housing and health is not a new idea. Many of our nation's earliest housing standards resulted from the concentrated slum housing around factories and in big cities during the Industrial Revolution. And, after World War II, a national housing policy was declared in the National Housing Act of 1949, stating that there should be: ``a decent home and a suitable living environment for every American family.'' These early housing standards regarding ventilation, sanitation, occupancy, structural soundness, lighting, and other habitability criteria greatly advanced our nation's public health.

I would also be remiss if I did not mention the passage of the Lead-Based Paint Poisoning Prevention Act in 1991, which has helped dramatically decrease lead poisoning in children over the past 15 years. This law required the Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development to establish and implement procedures to eliminate lead hazards from public housing.

In 1992, controls on lead-based paint and lead exposure were further enhanced by Title X of the Housing and Community Development Act. Title X defined ``hazard'' in such a way that it included deteriorating lead paint, and lead-contaminated dust and soil that the lead paint generates. It also mandated the creation of an infrastructure that would help reduce lead paint hazards in our nation's housing.

Federal efforts regarding lead poisoning are a wonderful example of a federal investment in housing that has produced significant benefits to our society while minimizing cost.

Unfortunately, the conditions of today's worst-case housing looks only modestly better than it did a century ago. Now, we must determine the role that the government can and should play in stimulating the creation of truly decent and safe housing nationwide in the 21st Century.

We can learn from some of our state and local governments about how to proceed. In my own state of Rhode Island, the State Department of Health and the City of Providence code enforcement division offers quarterly training on the identification of housing hazards. Trainees walk through homes with a standard assessment survey and evaluate them for different environmental hazards, what has been fixed and what needs to be repaired or improved.

The Rhode Island Department of Health Family Outreach Program works in conjunction with the state's universal screening program to target Rhode Island children, from birth to age three, who are at-risk for poor developmental outcomes. Families with children identified as ``at-risk'' are contacted by a provider in their area and are offered a home visit by a multidisciplinary team of nurses, social workers, and paraprofessionals. Home visitors also serve as the neighborhood follow-up for services.

We need to take advantage of some of the best ideas that are currently underway to make our homes and communities healthier. It is for this reason that I am introducing, the Research, Hazard Intervention and National Outreach for Healthier Homes Act, which seeks to encourage and develop healthy housing initiatives in the public and private spheres.

The major purpose of this bill is to enhance and coordinate federal healthy housing initiatives. Such coordination should reduce duplication in federal efforts and ensure sufficient data collection regarding both the housing conditions and the health problems in our country's housing stock.

Specifically, the bill would provide statutory authority for HUD's Healthy Homes program, expand the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's current lead program to also address healthy housing issues, where appropriate, and establish the Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Children's Health Protection as the center for the EPA's healthy housing efforts.

It would also create a new Health Hazard Reduction competitive grant program at the EPA and HUD. Applicants must already be recipients of a federal grant through an existing federal program such as the Community Development Block Grant, CDBG, the HOME Investment Partnerships Program, weatherization assistance, low-income home energy assistance, or the rural housing assistance programs. After the first three years, the EPA and HUD would evaluate the grant program's effectiveness by taking into account the aggregate health, safety, energy savings, and durability benefits resulting from the program. The CDC and the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) current coordinated training activities on housing-related hazards would also be expanded and evaluated.

In addition, the bill would expand national outreach about housing hazards through a combination of market-based incentives, the expansion of existing initiatives, and educational media campaigns. For example, the EPA would evaluate and promote health protective products, materials, and criteria for new and existing housing and create a voluntary labeling program that would provide these items with a ``Healthy Home Seal of Approval''. The CDC, the EPA, and HUD would pool their resources to establish a national media campaign to raise public awareness about hazards in housing.

While our nation and nations around the world grapple with important social, economic, and international policy questions, we must keep in mind the important role healthy housing plays in all of these issues.

Scientific research has begun to unlock some of the connections between housing, community development, and health outcomes. The Research, Hazard Intervention, and National, Outreach for Healthier Homes Act will help us start working to a time when every family has an affordable, decent, and healthy home. I hope my colleagues will join me in supporting this bill and other healthy housing efforts.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the RECORD.

There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:

S. 3654

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