But when it comes to homes the government owns for the bene t of America’s
poorest families, of cials in radon hot zones commonly choose not to test,
according to the newsroom’s reporting on 64 local housing authorities
nationwide.
Those that have checked for radon often did so in only a tiny percentage of their
public housing units. Some sat on or forgot about the results without making
xes. Some never told tenants they were living in a potential cancer cloud.
In three cities where authorities tested only occasionally, only in the 1990s or not
at all, The Oregonian/OregonLive and af liates of its corporate parent, Advance
Local, readily found high levels of radon. One location was an in-home day care.
Others were home to elderly people who’d breathed the air for years.
Denver resident Norma Flores, 69, deployed test kits provided by the newsroom
and found her apartment had radon at double the level the federal government
says should be xed.
“I’m really concerned,” said Flores, who moved into her unit at Westridge Homes
15 years ago after a sickness left her unable to work. “Scared to death, actually.”
The Denver Housing Authority’s executive director, Ismael Guerrero, dismissed
the results from Flores and other tenants with elevated radon levels because the
tests weren’t performed by a professional.
“We’re not going to comment on those test results,” said Guerrero, whose agency
has tested a small percentage of its other public housing units and removed radon
when it was found.
He declined to have Denver follow up on units testing high during the
newsroom’s investigation.