Among the newsroom’s ndings:
HUD shrugged off requirements set by law. Congress in 1988 ordered the
agency to write a policy ensuring public housing tenants “are not exposed to
hazardous levels of radon.” HUD leaders did not deliver even after
government auditors admonished them for failing to meet the basic
requirements of the radon law, proceeding to repeatedly miss deadlines and
make promises they didn’t keep.
The housing department tossed aside its own 2013 advice encouraging radon
testing in public housing. During the ve years following that
recommendation, HUD did not test a single apartment owned by the 10
troubled local housing authorities that it operated directly. The
administrator who issued the guidance became Detroit’s housing authority
director this year. She hasn’t ordered radon testing for her city’s public
housing.
Local housing authorities show little interest in tackling radon, despite
concrete evidence the danger is real. Fewer than one in three agencies
surveyed by the newsroom last year could provide testing records showing
they looked for radon. Most that did test found high radon levels in at least
one home or common space. Two agencies have discovered more than 100
units containing radioactive air.
Informing tenants is a low priority. In Oregon, Portland’s housing authority
requires workers to tell a supervisor if they plan to spend more than ve
hours in an apartment with radon inside. They’re told to open all windows
and bring in a fan to circulate air. But when the housing authority discovered
radon in dozens of units earlier this year, residents who breathed the air all
day long weren’t given any such advice. In fact, many rst learned about the
test results from a reporter.
Some housing authorities neglect to eliminate the radon they nd. Of cials
in Pittsburgh, Omaha, Nebraska, and Portland, Maine, didn’t x units that
tested high for radon months or years earlier until questioned about it by The
Oregonian/OregonLive. Omaha’s housing authority announced a top
manager’s departure the same day the newsroom obtained emails showing he
received tests results months before.
“AVOID IT AT ALL COSTS”
HUD of cials declined repeated requests to make Secretary Ben Carson available
for an interview and did not respond to written questions. But the agency has
taken action since the newsroom began its inquiries last year.