National Center for Healthy Housing

In the wake of the Flint lead water crisis and increased national will to address the problem, NCHH and the National Safe and Healthy Housing Coalition have launched a bold new drive to eliminate lead poisoning. It's simple yet comprehensive: Find lead hazards, eliminate them, and build the political will to create key public investments and policies to do so. NCHH and the National Safe and Healthy Housing Coalition are leading initiatives to eliminate lead paint hazards and dramatically increase lead poisoning surveillance and home-based follow-up services and will support allies and partners in eliminating lead hazards in water and other sources.

Read the Find It, Fix It, Fund It talking points.

Sign up today:

• To join Find It, Fix It, Fund It: A Lead Elimination Action Drive or one of its workgroups.
• To add your organization’s logo to the drive. See who's joined the drive so far.

See the declaration supporting the Find It, Fix It, Fund It principles signed by over 300 attendees at the Lead and Healthy Housing Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on May 5, 2016.

We’d love your feedback. Email David Jacobs to share your thoughts.

The National Center for Healthy Housing’s core principle for lead advocacy is to promote primary prevention, leading to the elimination of exposures and thus the elimination of childhood lead poisoning. Until we achieve that goal, we will also continue to press for urgently needed follow-up services for children impacted by lead.
 
NCHH believes that preventing exposures to lead-based paint, dust, and soil hazards requires robust support of all three legs of the stool for successful government action: the CDC to monitor children’s blood lead levels, HUD to control lead hazards, and EPA to set standards based on the most updated science.

NCHH leads the national effort to:

• Dramatically increase funding to CDC’s Healthy Homes and Lead Poisoning Prevention Program, to provide needed surveillance, outreach, education, and follow-up services nationwide, ensuring blood lead level surveillance in all 50 states.
• Dramatically increase funding to HUD’s Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes to ensure that lead hazards are identified and controlled in pre-1978 low-income homes with children younger than six years old.
• Promote financing for home-based lead follow-up services.
• Expand lead-based risk assessments to all HUD inspection protocols.
• Re-establish a national lead poisoning advisory committee and update national plans for eliminating lead paint hazards and providing healthy homes.

NCHH plays a major role in efforts to:

• Update federal lead paint, dust, and soil regulations using the most recent science.
• Promote lead poisoning research.

NCHH supports efforts to:

• Identify and replace lead pipes and identify and eliminate other sources of lead exposure.
• Identify and fully fund needed follow-up services to children impacted by lead.
• Increase private resources for lead paint hazard control, including grants, tax credits, incentives, settlements, and enhanced disclosure.

Appropriations

• Led the national effort to secure passage of $25 million in new lead hazard control funding by the full Senate appropriations committee April 21, 2016.
• Issued the "Call for 230" in February 2016 to more than double lead hazard control and healthy homes funding to HUD to $230 million – picked up by 20 senators, hundreds of organizations, and most recently, the Muppets, on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (caution: strong language).
• Also in February 2016, issued the call to more than double funding for children's blood lead level surveillance in order to extend it to all 50 states – since picked up by over 100 members of Congress.

Administrative Advocacy

• Led advocacy for HUD to protect the health of residents of its largest program, Section 8 vouchers, resulting in the current upgrade of its housing quality standards.
• In 2016, renewed the call for re-establishment of CDC's groundbreaking scientific lead poisoning advisory committee – now picked up by 75 U.S. representatives.

Legislative Advocacy

• Provided technical and scientific advice to members of Congress on six lead poisoning prevention bills introduced in 2016 alone.
• Recognized by Senator Jack Reed in April 2016 for efforts leading to introduction of his Title X Amendments Act improving protections of low-income children, including those living in studio and efficiency apartments. These provisions were included in bipartisan appropriations legislation passed unanimously out of committee on April 21.

National Safe and Healthy Housing Coalition Advocacy

• Coalition members initiated our "Call for 230" to double lead poisoning prevention funding on February 10, 2016, by meeting with 80 of their representatives and senators.
• Congressman Kildee of Flint and Director Breysse of CDC's National Center for Environmental Health joined Coalition members April 12, 2016, to discuss new directions in the fight to end lead poisoning in the wake of Flint.   

Media Advocacy

• 04/17/2016 | John Oliver Supports “Call for 230” Million for HUD’s Office of Lead Hazard Control
  [url; YouTube]
• 03/04/2016 | NCHH's David Jacobs Discusses Need for Increased Funding In New York Times
  [url; The New York Times]       

 

We thank the following organizations for joining "Find It, Fix It, Fund It: A Lead Elimination Action Drive." Click here if you’d like to join the drive as an individual or as a representative of your organization.

Note that neither the National Center for Healthy Housing (NCHH) nor the National Safe and Healthy Housing Coalition (NSHHC, the Coalition) recommends the products or services of any business; as such, their appearance on the Find It, Fix It, Fund It page should not be considered an endorsement.

Advocates for Children of New Jersey	Alliance for Strong Families and Communities
American Public Health Association	ASAP Environmental, Inc.
Association of Public Health Laboratories	Assoc. of Northern California Environmental Consultants
Blackstone Valley Community Action Program
Childhood Lead Action Project	City of Akron Housing and Community Services
City of Cleveland	City of Philadelphia
Clean Water Action	Coalition on Human Needs
Community Housing Partners	Council for a Strong America
Duke University Environmental Law and Policy Clinic
E4Progress Planning and Engineering	East New York Urban Youth Corps
Eastern Inspection Solutions	Energy Coordinating Agency
Environmental Defense Fund	EnviroPlan LLC
Fahe	First Focus
First State Community Action Agency
Georgia Dept of Community Affairs/Community Services	Georgia Department of Public Health
Holy Spirit Missionary Sisters in the USA
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai	Inform the People
J. Miller & Associates	Julia Lead the Way Lead Poisoning Awareness Group
Lawrence County Community Action Program	Lawyers' Committee for Better Housing
Lead Safe Testing, LLC	Louisville Metro Dept. of Public Health and Wellness
Loyola University Chicago School of Law	LSU AgCenter (Extension Service)
Maine Children's Alliance	Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center
Michigan Department of Health and Human Services	Minneapolis Parents for Lead Safe Kids
NC Child	Natural Resources Defense Council
Partnership for America's Children	Partnership Housing, Inc.
The Pew Charitable Trusts	PinnacleHealth Lead Poisoning  Prevention and Outreach Program
Portland Housing Bureau
Radio Amanecer KPFG-LP
State of Ohio
Trust for America's Health
University of Colorado, Denver	University of Rochester
Voices for Illinois Children
Wake County Environmental Services	Wayne State University Center for Urban Studies
West Chester University	Westbay Community Action
Western New York Lead Poisoning Resource Center, Rochester Office