Sec. 3304. Functions of the council
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In carrying out the objectives described in section 3303(b), the Council shall— review Federal programs and services that provide housing, health, energy, or environmental services to families and individuals; monitor, evaluate, and recommend improvements in programs and services administered, funded, or financed by Federal, State, and local agencies to assist families and individuals in accessing healthy housing and make recommendations about how such agencies can better work to meet the healthy housing and related needs of low-income families and individuals; and recommend ways to— reduce duplication among programs and services by Federal agencies that assist families and individuals in meeting their healthy housing and related service needs; ensure collaboration among and within agencies in the provision and availability of programs and services so that families and individuals are able to easily access needed programs and services; work with States and local governments to better meet the needs of families and individuals for healthy housing by— holding meetings with State and local representatives; and providing ongoing technical assistance and training to States and localities in better meeting the housing-related needs of such families and individuals; identify best practices for programs and services that assist families and individuals in accessing healthy housing, including model— programs linking housing, health, environmental, human, and energy services; housing and remodeling financing products offered by government, quasi-government, and private sector entities; housing and building codes and regulatory practices; existing and new consensus specifications and work practices documents; capacity building and training programs that help increase and diversify the supply of practitioners who perform assessments of housing-related health hazards and interventions to address housing-related health hazards; and programs that increase community awareness of, and education on, housing-related health hazards and available assessments and interventions; develop a comprehensive healthy housing research agenda that considers health, safety, environmental, and energy factors, to— identify cost-effective assessments and treatment protocols for housing-related health hazards in existing housing; establish links between housing hazards and health outcomes; track housing-related health problems including injuries, illnesses, and death; track housing conditions that may be associated with health problems; identify cost-effective protocols for construction of new healthy housing; and identify replicable and effective programs or strategies for addressing housing-related health hazards; hold biannual meetings with stakeholders and other interested parties in a location convenient for such stakeholders, or hold open Council meetings, to receive input and ideas about how to best meet the healthy housing needs of families and individuals; maintain an updated website of policies, meetings, best practices, programs and services, making use of existing websites as appropriate, to keep people informed of the activities of the Council; and work with member agencies to collect and maintain data on housing-related health hazards, illnesses, and injuries so that all data can be accessed in one place and to identify and address unmet data needs.
Each year the head of each agency who is a member of the Council shall prepare and transmit to the Council a report that briefly summarizes— each healthy housing-related program and service administered by the agency and the number of families and individuals served by each program or service, the resources available in each program or service, and a breakdown of where each program and service can be accessed; the barriers and impediments, including statutory or regulatory, to the access and use of such programs and services by families and individuals, with particular attention to the barriers and impediments experienced by low-income families and individuals; the efforts made by the agency to increase opportunities for families and individuals, including low-income families and individuals, to reside in healthy housing, including how the agency is working with other agencies to better coordinate programs and services; and any new data collected by the agency relating to the healthy housing needs of families and individuals.
Each year, the Council shall prepare and transmit to the President and Congress a report that— summarizes the reports required under paragraph (1); utilizes recent data to assess the nature of housing-related health hazards, and associated illnesses and injuries, in the United States; provides a comprehensive and detailed description of the programs and services of the Federal Government in meeting the needs and problems described in subparagraph (B); describes the activities and accomplishments of the Council in working with Federal, State, and local governments, nonprofit organizations and for-profit entities in coordinating programs and services to meet the needs described in subparagraph
(B)and the resources available to meet those needs; assesses the level of Federal assistance required to meet the needs described in subparagraph (B); and makes recommendations for appropriate legislative and administrative actions to meet the needs described in subparagraph
(B)and for coordinating programs and services designed to meet those needs.