The path towards making policy change related to decreasing environmental triggers for asthma in low income housing in Sonoma County has been anything but straight. As divergent as it has been over the past six years, the coalition is making some headway. Sonoma County is a mixture of rural and urban areas, with nine municipalities each with its own building department operating according to its own local building codes. The county itself provides inadequate and under-funded code enforcement for the un-incorporated areas.
HOUSING AND ASTHMA
The asthma coalition has focused attention on the quality of the air we breathe in our homes, especially for those who live in rental housing. Nearly 40% of the population in Sonoma County are renters. Renters have less control over their indoor environments, which can be a challenge for a person with air quality-related health issues.
Unfortunately, home can be a dangerous place for a person with asthma. Environmental triggers often found in housing include mold, second-hand smoke, dust, animal dander, cleaning and pest management products, and toxic fumes from paint, flooring and building materials. While renters can deal with some asthma triggers, it is up to landlords to address those that are due to structural factors, and up to city or county code enforcement to deal with code violations.
In Sonoma County, we are addressing the asthma triggers of mold, secondhand smoke, and toxic building materials through increasing knowledge and awareness about environmental triggers. The asthma coalition educates code enforcers, landlords, city and county staff, medical providers, schools and families through trainings, publications and reports, and sharing information through email lists and at meetings related to public health and the environment (such as city and county general plan meetings). The asthma coalition also advocates with landlords and local city governments for policy changes related to indoor air quality, such as smoke free housing policies, increased green building standards, increased green cleaning and maintenance practices, and improving indoor air quality related housing code enforcement practices.
INDOOR ASTHMA TRIGGERS: Mold
Mold, a major trigger of asthma, grows in buildings if indoor air is damp or if there have been water leaks. Allergic reactions and asthma attacks from inhaling or touching mold or mold spores are common. Federal and state guidelines recommend immediately cleaning up any visible mold and preventing its reoccurrence through temperature and humidity control and by removing structural sources of moisture, such as leaking pipes, walls, or roofs.
Sonoma County Asthma Coalition talked to housing code inspectors throughout the county about this problem. Five out of nine Sonoma County building officials interviewed reported difficulties responding to mold complaints, including:
--Lack of clear understanding by both tenants and landlords about the causes of mold problems in the home (structural or behavioral).
--Many mold problems going unreported because the mold is hidden from view.
--Mold problems going unreported because tenants are unaware of their rights related to mold in the home and/or are unaware of the health effects of mold.
--No enforceable safe/unsafe mold levels in California Building Code, leaving remediation up to the discretion of the code enforcement department.
--Lack of annual housing inspections of all low-income rental housing units due to inadequate staffing.
INDOOR AIR TRIGGER: Secondhand Smoke
According to the United States Surgeon General, secondhand smoke from cigarettes is a toxic air contaminant. No level of secondhand smoke is safe for people to inhale. Children are especially at risk, as their lungs are still developing.
Secondhand smoke drifts between apartments in multi-unit housing. It can seep through air ducts, electrical sockets, and windows. The only effective way to protect vulnerable tenants is to limit smoking in these buildings. A statewide survey commissioned by the American Lung Association found that 46% of respondents said they had been exposed to secondhand smoke in their apartments and nearly 70% of apartment residents support nonsmoking sections in apartment buildings. Support was even higher among people living in public housing.
On March 20, 2008, the asthma coalition, in partnership with the county Tobacco Program, California Rural Legal Assistance, and the Center for Well Being is offering an educational and advocacy forum for landlords, attorneys and elected officials about smoke free policies in multi-unit housing.
INDOOR AIR TRIGGERS: Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) and Chemicals
Another source of indoor air pollutants comes from products that off-gas VOC’s, which can be harmful to health. Products that off-gas include carpets, pressed wood cabinetry and furnishing, textiles, glues, paints and varnishes, plastics and fire retardants. Other harmful chemicals in indoor air include cleaning products such as carpet cleaners, cleaning solutions, air fresheners, and scented products.
The asthma coalition is partnering with the city of Rohnert Park to educate and encourage landlords to choose environmentally preferable products and practices when renovating and cleaning rental units for new tenants.
How is indoor air quality protected in Sonoma County?
In 2007, the Coalition conducted interviews with building officials in Sonoma County’s nine cities to learn what they knew about the health impacts of poor indoor air quality and how city code enforcement responds to indoor air quality complaints.
We learned that:
--Five cities in Sonoma County have already mandated Green Building standards as part of their building codes. These codes begin to address remedies for indoor air toxins (green points can be earned for choosing construction materials and interior finish products with zero or low emissions to improve indoor air quality). Points can also be earned for energy efficient design, which can impact moisture and mold levels in the home. Most of the cities intend, over the next years, to increase the minimum green points required to meet the code.
--Neither asthma nor indoor air quality (IAQ) are specifically addressed by housing code enforcement, except where addressed in Green Building codes, trainings and guidelines.
--Santa Rosa alone in the county has pro-active annual home inspections occurring in five low-income neighborhoods selected for revitalization.
--Petaluma is considering conducting pro-active annual home inspections for multi-unit housing complexes and motels, but does not have resources currently.
--All Section 8 units are inspected prior to being approved for Section 8 status.
--All the cities operate on complaint-driven code enforcement practices resulting in many code violations never being reported. This is especially true among lower income residents who live in substandard housing and fear that reporting problems could result in retaliation or eviction by the landlord. Roughly 15% of housing in Sonoma County is illegal or non-conforming,[1] making it even less likely for tenants to report safety or health violations.
While all city building officials recognize the need for regular annual inspections of all substandard rental units, most reported that current code enforcement staffing is inadequate to institute such a policy. Mike Reynolds, Senior Code Enforcement Officer for Santa Rosa, President and past Chair of Education and Training for CACEO, California Association of Code Enforcement officers said: “Cities and counties across the state are challenged with maintaining well-trained staffing to deal with the ever expanding growth in population. This growth far exceeds the ability of the housing industry to keep pace with the need for housing. This means that existing housing is overcrowded beyond reasonable standards. Required maintenance of the structures is ignored, and they deteriorate to the point of being unsafe, or at the very least un-healthful for the residents.”
The asthma coalition’s indoor air quality policy recommendations:
Sonoma County Asthma Coalition invites elected officials, government agencies, landlords, non-profit organizations, and tenants to join together to systematically improve the quality of rental housing in Sonoma County, and create more safe places for families with asthma to live. Here are several policy arenas that could be addressed in order to meet this goal.
CODE ENFORCEMENT
--Advocate with cities to move from a complaint-driven code enforcement practice to a more pro-active home inspection process (such as annual inspections of multi unit housing, especially in low income neighborhoods).
--Advocate for the development of county standards on assessment and remediation of mold complaints.
SECONDHAND SMOKE
--Advocate for landlords and non-profit housing corporations to adopt smoke-free policies for multi unit housing (for ex. have designated smoke free units separate from the smoking units, or completely smoke free housing complexes where tenants do not smoke in their apartments, but rather in a designated smoking area).
--Advocate for cities adopt smoke-free housing policies (for example nuisance laws that give tenants affected by secondhand smoke legal recourse to deal with the issue).
GREEN BUILDING
--Adoption of mandatory green building standards in building codes by the four cities without such standards in Sonoma County: Petaluma, Healdsburg, Sonoma, and Cloverdale.
--Adoption of mandatory green building standards in building codes by the county of Sonoma for the unincorporated area residents
--Strengthening existing green building standards by increasing the minimum number of required indoor air quality related green points
--Advocate, through the Santa Rosa Council Advisory Committee on Green Building for the city of Santa Rosa to form a Sustainability Financing District to enable property owners to fund energy efficient measures (which can improve indoor air quality)
--Advocate, through the Santa Rosa Council Advisory Committee on Green Building for adoption of programs similar to Berkeley’s Residential Energy Conservation Ordinance (RECO) and Commercial Energy Conservation Ordinance (CECO)
--Advocate with cities for inclusion of indoor air quality and health related measures in new retrofit programs
--Advocate for required health and safety code inspections at point-of-sale audit
PREFERABLE HEALTHIER BUILDING, MAINTENANCE AND CLEANING PRODUCTS
--Encourage and educate landlords and homeowners to use low or no VOC products (paints, varnishes, glues, flooring, furniture, plastics).
--Encourage and educate landlords, homeowners, business owners, schools and organizations to use preferable green (non-toxic) products for cleaning and maintenance.
--Advocate for cities to offer incentives to landlords who choose healthier practices when renovating or cleaning rental units
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[1] Richard C. Rogers, Sonoma county Permit and Resources Department, “Demographics, Holding Capacities, and Projections,” memo to GP2020 Citizens Advisory Committee, May 12, 2002.
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