Radon mitigation systems, which suck the radon gases out from underneath the home and disperse them into the outside air, can be installed on the side of homes to significantly lower toxic radon levels inside.
Even though the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, was recommended by congress back in 1988, with an amendment to the McKinney Act, to begin testing and mitigation, the department has yet to create any policies enforcing the measure.
Because of the lack of regulation, local housing authorities, which own and operate public housing complexes with the support of HUD, have taken little action on their own accord.
Guerrero said DHA has tested and mitigated about 60% of the public housing units it owns as it has remodeled old buildings in recent years, but not all of them.
“There are currently not any federal local or state requirements or regulations around radon testing, so our approach has been to do it when we’re doing a modernization, so we have the resources required,” Guerrero said in February.
That’s something that worries residents like Barbara Alcon, who lives the Westridge Homes complex. While CBS4 Investigates found a low radon level in Alcon’s home, she said she’s concerned about the safety of others in the city’s public housing.
“What are they going to do if somebody dies, gets sick, because their radon was too high?” Alcon asked in a February interview with CBS4 Investigates. “Are they going to feel guilty about it? Or are they going to brush it off? That’s the scary thing about it.”
KATI WEIS
CBS4 Investigator Kati Weis is an award-winning journalist who joined the station in 2019.More from Kati Weis
CBS4 Investigates found radon levels twice the EPA’s safe limit at the Columbine Homes complex. (credit: CBS4)
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