Healthy Homes

Issues such as lead-based paint, radon, or carbon monoxide can jeopardize the health of a home environment.  Government agencies often rely on health and housing codes or laws that specifically deal with issues such as the ones described above to address resident or neighborhood health, safety, or welfare problem.  Landlord-tenant laws provide both the landlord and the tenant with avenues to redress healthy home problems or violations.  Health codes and housing codes are usually comprehensive and provide departments and agencies with broad authority to control public nuisances or threats to the collective health or welfare of a community.

Lead renovation and repair

At least four million households are exposed to lead in the United States today.[1] 

Though the sources of lead have been identified and remedies acknowledged, children continue to be poisoned because of the enormity of the problem. Lead, as an element and a highly toxic metal, exists throughout the United States. Almost 5 million tons of lead were used in residential paint; 7.3 million tons were used for leaded gas.[2] Massive amounts of lead were also used in plumbing and numerous other consumer and industrial goods. Although its current uses and production have been greatly reduced, lead remains a threat because it persists indefinitely in the environment. When absorbed by humans, lead disturbs virtually every bodily system, most severely the brain and central nervous system. Extreme lead poisoning causes convulsions, mental retardation, seizures, and sometimes death; low levels of poisoning reduce intelligence, delay cognitive growth, and impair physical development. In children, infants and fetuses, lead is particularly harmful because it damages the developing brain and central nervous system permanently.[3] [4]

The CDC has recently revised its standards of “blood level of concern,” reducing the standard from 10 to 5 micrograms per liter of blood. This change will allow doctors testing children to inform parents of the concern and help them to take action to prevent lead poisoning.
 
For more information on lead renovation and repair, please visit the NCSL links below and the featured links to the side.

Radon

Almost every state has some policy addressing radon. Forty states require disclosure of radon hazards upon sale of a house; 21 require radon inspectors and/or mitigators be licensed. Ten states require new construction be radon-resistant, and another 23 have local codes mandating radon resistant new construction. In 27 states, radon is part of their building code.

Carbon monoxide

Carbon monoxide (CO) is a colorless, odorless gas emitted from combustion processes. Nationally and, particularly in urban areas, the majority of CO emissions to ambient air come from mobile sources. CO can cause harmful health effects by reducing oxygen delivery to the body's organs (like the heart and brain) and tissues. At extremely high levels, CO can cause death.[5]

There are a variety of state statutes that address carbon monoxide alarms that have passed only recently under health and human safety guidelines.

State landlord and tenant duties

The following is a review of state laws addressing residential landlord-tenant leases, focusing on the respective duties of the landlords and tenants found under the Uniform Residential Landlord-Tenant Act (ULTRA). Every state except  North Dakota has a law. The laws for the District of Columbia, Illinois, New Jersey, New York and South Dakota have not been identified.

Alabama | Alaska | Arizona | Arkansas | California | Colorado | Connecticut | Delaware | District of Columbia | Florida | Georgia | Hawaii | Indiana | Iowa | Kansas | Kentucky | Louisiana | Maine | Maryland | Massachusetts | Michigan | Minnesota | Mississippi | Missouri | Montana | Nebraska | Nevada | New Hampshire | New Jersey | New Mexico | New York | North Carolina |  Ohio | Oklahoma | Oregon | Pennsylvania | Rhode Island | South Carolina | South Dakota | Tennessee | Texas | Utah | Vermont | Virginia | Washington | West Virginia | Wisconsin | Wyoming

Arizona Mobile Home | Connecticut Mobile Home | Illinois Mobile Home | Iowa Mobile Home | Nebraska Mobile Home | Texas Mobile Home | Washington Mobile Home

NCSL thanks its partner on this project the National Center for Healthy Housing, and HUD’s Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control and the CDC’s Office of Healthy Housing for funding and support.