Housing Code Ordinances

Housing code ordinances are the minimum standards for safety and sanitation set by the local, state, or federal government and should protect people with asthma against indoor air problems. Click here for more information.

• Develop guidelines for state/local health departments on best practices, regulations and codes that best protect indoor air.
• Adopt model indoor air quality codes (state and/or local).
  Housing codes and measures of following them have been in place for decades around the nation but vary from location to location. Learn more about the five different areas of state laws and codes that can impact indoor air in homes from the National Center for Healthy Housing (NCHH).
  • The NCHH and the National Conference of State Legislature has created a table of State Laws Related to Healthy Homes.
  • The Environmental Law Institute offers guidance and resource documents to help protect indoor air quality through state-level policy. Check out their Database of State Indoor Air Quality Laws.
  • Policy Assessment Checklist
• Require use of integrated pest management (IPM) in multi-unit housing.
  Learn more from the Environmental Protection Agency about Integrated Pest Management as well as the resources available for building management and tenants.
  • Guidance from HUD on Integrated Pest Management
• Improve federal regulations to address indoor air quality conditions in subsidized and public housing.

Housing Code Enforcement

Housing code enforcement should be strengthened to reduce prevalence of indoor air quality problems. Click here for more information.

• Provide training for housing code enforcement officials to address indoor air quality problems.
  • Backgrounder: Health Departments Training Housing Staff
  • Healthy Homes Visual Assessment Tool
  • Home Environmental Checklist
• Provide authority and capacity for the local health department to take legal action to enforce indoor air quality related codes and laws (including nuisance laws).
  • Backgrounder: Health Department Enforcement
• Provide capacity within state and local housing inspection agencies to offer specialized services to identify and remedy indoor air quality (IAQ) problems where families with asthma reside.
  • Backgrounder: Expand Housing Agency Authority for IAQ
• Improve access to legal and other resources for tenants looking to enforce existing local laws (including judicial education, increasing legal services, and tenant education).
  
  It is important that tenants understand their local and state rights before they take action against a landlord or building management. Find out your local Tenant Rights by state from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
  • Backgrounder: Landlord-Tenant Laws
  • Letter for requesting repairs
  • Letter for terminating tenancy
  • A Tenant’s Checklist
  • Letter for Smoking Infiltration to Neighbor
  • Letter for Smoking Infiltration to Property Manager
• Provide capacity for state and local health departments to offer guidance to property owners on identifying and remediating indoor air quality problems, including information on smokefree policy.
  • Backgrounder: Guidance for Property Owners

Multi-Unit Housing

Multi-unit housing should be smokefree. Click here for more information.

• Pass ordinances to require smokefree, multi-unit housing.
  • Backgrounder: Smokefree Multi-Unit Housing
  • Model smokefree policy
• Encourage owners/managers of public and private housing to make all indoor areas, including units, smokefree.
  • Making Multi-Unit Housing Smokefree
  • Smokefree Policies in Multi-Unit Housing Steps for Success Online Curriculum
    This free online training will provide you with additional advocacy tools and templates you can use to help create smokefree living environments in multi-unit housing.
  • California Smokefree ordinance for multi-unit housing
  • Smokefree ordinance multi-unit housing checklist
  • The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, in partnership with the Department of Health and Human Services, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Lung Association, has created toolkits to support local efforts to create smokefree public housing for residents and owners.
• Establish policy within the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to require all federally-funded public housing to be smokefree.
  The American Lung Association supports regulations that would require all multi-unit housing to be smokefree. At this time the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) encourages building management and owners to establish smokefree policies that support healthy living environments through the following notices in 2009 and 2010.

New and Remodeled Housing

New and remodeled housing should be built to promote healthy indoor air quality. Click here for more information.

• HUD has created a policy that requires new construction, rehabilitation, repair and remodeling in federally funded public housing to follow guidelines for healthier indoor air quality.
  The American Lung Association supports the development of strategies that would support these efforts.
  • HUD’s Healthy Homes Strategic Plan

The National Center for Healthy Homes has created the National Healthy Homes Training Center for those interested in learning more about addressing the key messages to creating a healthy home environment.