New standard recommends improving housing conditions in U.S.
The National Center for Healthy Housing (NCHH) and the American Public Health Association (APHA) have released a new National Healthy Housing Standard targeting the nation’s 100 million existing homes – single family, multifamily, rental and owner occupied. The Standard can be adopted as a regulation by government agencies and as a voluntary best practice by any property owner.
In September 2013, NCHH found that 35 million (or 40 percent) of metropolitan homes in the U.S. have one or more health and safety hazards as reported in The State of Healthy Housing, a comprehensive study of housing conditions in 46 metropolitan areas of the nation. That study draws on data from the American Housing Survey, which found that approximately 6.3 million housing units are considered to be substandard—a statistic that has remained relatively static for over a decade.