Posted on 02/09/2013 8:45:47 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
(CNSNews.com) - Under the broad banner of "health," the federal government not only is telling Americans what to eat, it's also telling us to make our homes safer.
This week, the Obama administration released a "bold new vision for addressing the nation's health and economic burdens caused by preventable hazards associated with the home."
The project has a name: "Advancing Healthy Housing: A Strategy for Action."
"People in the United States spend about 70% of their time in a home," the announcement said.
"Currently, millions of U.S. homes have moderate to severe physical housing problems, including dilapidated structure; roofing problems; heating, plumbing, and electrical deficiencies; water leaks and intrusion; pests; damaged paint; and high radon gas levels. These conditions are associated with a wide range of health issues, including unintentional injuries, respiratory illnesses like asthma and radon-induced lung cancer, lead poisoning, result in lost school days for children, as well as lost productivity in the labor force."
According to the Obama administration, the health and economic burdens from preventable hazards associated with both subsidized and privately owned homes cost billions of dollars.
The new strategy "unifies" federal efforts to advance healthy housing -- "demonstrating the connection between housing conditions and residents’ health."
The federal partners pushing healthy housing include the White House Council on Environmental Quality, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Surgeon General, and Energy Department.
HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan says the federal government must do "everything we can to ensure that individuals and families have a healthy place to call home." He said the strategy "will help the federal government unify action (on) controlling and preventing major housing-related exposures and hazards."
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said the government now has a "specific plan for action to address radon and other preventable hazards found in homes across the country." The strategy, she added, "is a critical step" toward ensuring that "Americans in all communities have healthy places to live, work and play."
The healthy homes strategy sets five goals for reducing the number of substandard homes:
-- Establish healthy homes recommendations (homes should be dry, clean, pest-free, safe, contaminant-free, well-ventilated, and well-maintained and thermally controlled);
-- Encourage adoption of healthy homes recommendations (federal, state and local regulations);
-- Create and support training and workforce development to address health hazards in housing (train people for new jobs in green energy and construction);
-- Educate the public about healthy homes (advertising campaigns telling Americans how their homes ought to be)
-- Support research that advances healthy housing in a cost-effective manner (taxpayer-funded grants to study the problem).
A 2013 report from the "Federal Healthy Homes Work Group" notes that "susceptible and vulnerable populations, such as children, the poor, minorities, individuals with behavioral health issues, and people with chronic medical conditions, may be disproportionately impacted by inadequate housing."
The report also says many home-based hazards are preventable -- "and opportunities exist for intervention programs that would not only reduce health impacts on
occupants, but the economic burden as well, resulting in a positive return on investment."
And amazingly-or not-all this “health” concern comes from the biggest purveyors of The Culture of Death in so many areas the world has ever seen.
Does this mean that Obama is going to go after Valerie Jarrett’s slums, and fine her for not improving them?
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/06/27/grim_proving_ground_for_obamas_housing_policy/
Grim proving ground for Obama’s housing policy
CHICAGO - The squat brick buildings of Grove Parc Plaza, in a dense neighborhood that Barack Obama represented for eight years as a state senator, hold 504 apartments subsidized by the federal government for people who can’t afford to live anywhere else.
But it’s not safe to live here.
About 99 of the units are vacant, many rendered uninhabitable by unfixed problems, such as collapsed roofs and fire damage. Mice scamper through the halls. Battered mailboxes hang open. Sewage backs up into kitchen sinks. In 2006, federal inspectors graded the condition of the complex an 11 on a 100-point scale - a score so bad the buildings now face demolition.
Grove Parc has become a symbol for some in Chicago of the broader failures of giving public subsidies to private companies to build and manage affordable housing - an approach strongly backed by Obama as the best replacement for public housing.
As a state senator, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee coauthored an Illinois law creating a new pool of tax credits for developers. As a US senator, he pressed for increased federal subsidies. And as a presidential candidate, he has campaigned on a promise to create an Affordable Housing Trust Fund that could give developers an estimated $500 million a year.
But a Globe review found that thousands of apartments across Chicago that had been built with local, state, and federal subsidies - including several hundred in Obama’s former district - deteriorated so completely that they were no longer habitable.
Grove Parc and several other prominent failures were developed and managed by Obama’s close friends and political supporters. Those people profited from the subsidies even as many of Obama’s constituents suffered. Tenants lost their homes; surrounding neighborhoods were blighted.
Yeah, I trust Obama to improve our housing.
FUBO
Don’t be so hard on him. He did hang curtains, you know!
Sorry, I don’t know how to post pics, but there’s the link. LOL
We’ve been trying to get the mold out of the US White House ever since 2009.
I want to know how they define “pest free”. Living in the south, backed up against a field... pest free is not an option!
Do they just want us to tear down our older homes, and build up fresh based on the criteria, never mind what a family can and cannot afford in renovations/teardowns?
Idiot government.
Hey a federal home inspector can check for tobacco, alcohol, drugs, guns and energy efficient appliances. Yep, nanny statism is wonderful. Thank you fellow FReepers that celebrated the elimination of private property rights with the celebrations of smoking bans in private establishments.
This is a jobs progam for useless lardass Federal workers.... Especially of the affirmative action persuasion since most of these “substandard” housing will be in black areas, barrios and other minority neighborhoods. So naturally the Federales ministering to them will also be minority with a few lesbians, gays and Indians and Aleutian Islanders thrown in for good measure. For these Federale jobs don’t both applying if you are a hetero white guy or a known conservative
The whole idea here is to take from private sector taxpayers (meaning whites and Asians) and fork over the cash to minorities ...after the Federales skim off the top 40% for administering this POS program
The irony is almost comical.
This definition of “health” brought to you by the folks who gave us; “It depends on what the definition of ‘is’ is.”
“I miss Carter.
Heck even LBJ was a better president.”
Huh? You are now living Carter’s third term.
WHEN does this crappola end???!!
I recently bought a mold infested house...MY FAULT! MY RESPONSIBILITY TO FIX!
Bingo. This will be the vehicle to make it happen,(Agenda 21) no doubt.
This is extra rich considering Obama’s closest, most trusted adviser was a Chicago slumlord
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