Story by BRAD SCHMIDT
Photography by BETH NAKAMURA
The Oregonian/OregonLive
Nov. 22, 2019
P
ublic housing authorities across the country have refused to nd and
remove radioactive gas from inside tenants’ homes, leaving children, senior
citizens and other vulnerable people unnecessarily exposed, an investigation by
The Oregonian/OregonLive has found.
Radon seeps in through ooring and is the second-leading cause of lung cancer in
the United States, killing an estimated 21,000 Americans each year. Federal
health of cials declared indoor radon “a national health problem” more than 30
years ago.
But local housing authorities ignored the danger.
And the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development let them, disregarding
a decades-old legal mandate from Congress to ensure the problem got xed.
Thomas Faison, 37, has late-stage lung cancer that his doctor suspects is from radon exposure. Faison grew up in
Northeast Portland, including about seven years in a home owned by the housing authority.
More than 400,000 public housing residents live in areas at gravest risk for indoor
exposure to the carcinogen, according to an analysis of federal data by The
Oregonian/OregonLive. As many as half of all tests from private homes in these
areas reveal radon concentrations so high that owners are advised to install
specialized ventilation systems. Tens of thousands have done so.