Sec. 3301. Findings

488 words·~2 min read·/bill/114/s/2821/is/section-3301

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Congress finds the following: In the United States— 5,757,000 households live in homes with moderate or severe physical hazards; 23,000,000 homes have significant lead-based paint hazards; 6,000,000 homes have had signs of mice in the last 3 months; and 1 in 15 homes have dangerous levels of radon. Residents of housing that is poorly designed, constructed, or maintained are at risk for cancer, carbon monoxide poisoning, burns, falls, rodent bites, childhood lead poisoning, asthma, and other illnesses and injuries.

Vulnerable subpopulations, such as children and the elderly, are at elevated risk for housing-related illnesses and injuries. Because substandard housing typically poses the greatest risks, the disparities in the distribution of housing-related health hazards are striking. One million two hundred thousand housing units with significant lead-based paint hazards house low-income families with children under 6 years of age. Housing-related illnesses, including asthma and lead poisoning, disproportionately affect children from lower-income families and from specific racial and ethnic groups.

The prevalence of being diagnosed with asthma in a lifetime is 24 percent among Puerto Rican children, 10.1 percent for Mexican-American children, 12.4 percent for non-Hispanic White children, and 21.8 percent for non-Hispanic Black children. Black children are twice as likely to die from residential injuries as White children, and 3 percent of Black children and 2 percent of Mexican-American children have elevated blood lead levels, as compared to only 1.3 percent of White children.

The annual costs for environmentally attributable childhood diseases in the United States, including lead poisoning, asthma, and cancer, total $76,000,000,000 in 2008 dollars. This amount is approximately 3.5 percent of total health care costs. Appropriate housing design, construction, and maintenance, timely correction of deficiencies, planning efforts, and low-cost preventive measures can reduce the incidence of serious injury or death, improve the ability of residents to survive in the event of a major catastrophe, and contribute to overall well-being and mental health.

Lead hazard control in homes with lead-based paint hazards can reduce children's blood lead levels by as much as 34 percent. Properly installed and maintained smoke alarms reduce the risk of fire deaths by 50 percent. Providing healthy housing to families and individuals in the United States will help prevent an estimated 250,000 children from having elevated blood lead levels, 18,000 injury deaths, 12,000,000 nonfatal injuries, 3,000 deaths in house fires, 9,600 emergency department visits for carbon monoxide exposure, and 21,000 radon-associated lung cancer deaths that occur in United States housing each year, as well as 12,300,000 asthma attacks, and 14,000,000 missed school days.

While there are many programs in place to address housing-related health hazards, these programs are fragmented and spread across many agencies, making it difficult for at-risk families and individuals to access assistance or to receive comprehensive information. Better coordination among Federal agencies is needed, as is better coordination at State and local levels, to ensure that families and individuals can access government programs and services in an effective and efficient manner.