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City of Tukwila, Wa

City of Tukwila, Wa

Healthy Housing Case Study CITY OF TUKWILA, WA

eople spend approximately 90 percent of their time indoors, with an estimated 69 percent in the home.i,ii Environmental factors, such as lead and asthma triggers, originating in the home can re- Psult in poor health.iii Quality of housing can impact people’s health: according to the National Healthy Housing Standard, “20 to 30 percent of asthma cases are linked to home environmental conditions.”iv Housing is a social determinant of health and an additional leading health indicator of Healthy People 2020, a science-based 10-year agenda for improving the nation’s health.

Everyone deserves the right to a healthy home, regardless of income level, geography and lack of affordable and safe housing options. Unfortunately, the health of vulnerable populations, such as low-income communities, chil- dren and people of color, is disproportionately negatively impacted due to substandard housing.v Additionally, low-income individuals tend to rent units and may not have sufficient means to relocate from a substandard housing unit.

As of 2015, 61 percent of Tukwila, Housing Licensing Program. This property owners by remediating haz- , residents rented rather program requires owners of residen- ards and maintaining healthy hous- than owned their properties and relied tial rental properties to hold Rental ing conditions. However, the Code on landlords to provide healthy home Business Licenses, which must be Enforcement Office recognized cer- environments.vi Tukwila, Washington, renewed on a yearly basis, and their tain challenges facing tenants and rentals are higher than those in near- rental units must pass inspections ev- property managers, such as mold by cities — 54 percent of housing in ery four years. The inspectors of the problems, that were not addressed Seattle, Washington, is rental and 43 rental units follow a Rental Housing through the Rental Housing Licensing percent of housing in King County, Licensing Program Inspection Program and the housing code. The Washington, is rental.vii Checklist, which covers such factors staff hoped to address these chal- Since 2011, the Tukwila Community as conditions of windows and frames, lenges in the next adoption of the viii Development Department’s Code wall surfaces and smoke detectors. International Property Maintenance Enforcement Office has worked to After overcoming some resistance Code — a model code governing the ensure safe and healthy homes for in its early stages, the program has maintenance of existing buildings de- Tukwila renters through its Rental come to benefit both tenants and veloped by the International Code

HEALTHY HOUSING CASE STUDY: TUKWILA, WA Page 1 Council. The IPMC is typically updat- health provisions focusing on mold ed every three years and adopted by and pest management into its recom- the Tukwila City Council. mendation to adopt the 2015 IPMC to The Tukwila Code Enforcement Office the City Council. staff first learned of the National The City Council passed the ordi- Healthy Housing Standard at a nance to adopt the 2015 IPMC and in- Washington State Association of Code corporate 86 percent of public health Enforcement Conference in 2014. provisions from NHHS in late 2015. The NHHS “bridges the health and Thirty-two percent of the NHHS pro- building code communities by putting visions adopted were already in the modern public health information into IPMC (2015) and 54 percent were housing code parlance”ix and serves added as amendments to the local as a supplement to the International municipal code. To fulfill a request Property Maintenance Code. Through from the City Council and housing ad- the conference presentation about vocates, the Code Enforcement Office the NHHS, code enforcement staff has taken a proactive approach in learned of additional evidence-based addressing pest infestation (such as public health provisions they could rodents and bedbugs). For the first or the first time incorporate into the current hous- time this year, the Code Enforcement this year, the Code ing code to foster healthy home Office required an Integrated Pest environments. Management plan for all multifam- Enforcement Office F The timing of the presentation was ily rental properties with two or more x required an Integrated Pest fortuitous, as the City of Tukwila was dwellings. Management plan for all in the process of adopting the updated Property owners must outline sanita- multifamily rental prop- IPMC. Tukwila staff approached the tion guidelines for inspections, articu- National Center for Healthy Housing, late the methods used at their rent- erties with two or more a national non-profit committed to al properties when an infestation is dwellings.x healthy homes and a co-author of the detected and document pest control NHHS, to compare the Tukwila hous- service provided. Though most prop- Property owners must out- ing code to the NHHS. After receiving erty owners already follow an IPM line sanitation guidelines the code comparison, code enforce- plan, some have pushed back, cit- for inspections, articulate ment staff identified provisions most ing increased burden and cost. The relevant to their work. For example, Code Enforcement Office is currently the methods used at their though Tukwila already worked to working with the property owners and rental properties when support healthy housing through its managers to provide guidance on the an infestation is detected Rental Housing Licensing Program, implementation and enforcement of the housing code did not outline how the new requirements outlined by the and document pest control to remediate mold, which was a chal- IPM provision. service provided. Though lenge for the city. After working with most property owners NCHH to compare its code to the NHHS, Tukwila staff integrated public already follow an IPM plan, some have pushed back, citing increased burden and cost.

Page 2 HEALTHY HOUSING CASE STUDY: TUKWILA, WA REFERENCES i. Environmental Protection ments/huddoc?id=Strategy_for_Action. tukwilacitywashington/PST045216. Ac- Agency. EPA’s Report on the Environ- pdf cessed September 26, 2017. ment: Indoor Air Quality. https://cfpub. iv. https://www.apha.org/publications-and- viii. City of Tukwila. “Rental Housing”. http:// epa.gov/roe/chapter/air/indoorair.cfm periodicals/reports-and-issue-briefs/ www.tukwilawa.gov/departments/ Accessed September 26, 2017. healthy-housing-standard community-development/rental-housing/. ii. Klepeis N.E., Nelson W.C., Ott W.R., Accessed 10.2.17 v. Rauh V.A., Landrigan P.J., and Claudio Robinson J.P., Tsang A.M., Switzer P., L. Housing and Health: Intersection of ix. National Center for Healthy Housing & Behar J.V., Hern S.C., & Engelmann Poverty and Environmental Exposures. American Public Health Association. W.H. The National Human Activity Pat- Annals of the New York Academy of (2014, May 16). National Healthy Hous- tern Survey (NHAPS): a resource for Sciences 1136:276-288 (2008). doi: ing Standard. Columbia, MD: National assessing exposure to environmental 10.1196/annals.1425.032 Center for Healthy Housing. Available at pollutants. Journal of Exposure Analysis www.nchh.org/standard.aspx Accessed and Environmental Epidemiology. 2001: vi. US Census, QuickFacts, Tukwila city, May 29, 2017. 11 (231-252). 10.1038/sj.jea.7500165. Washington: https://www.census.gov/ Accessed July 13, 2017. Available at: quickfacts/fact/table/tukwilacitywashing- x. City of Tukwila. “Rental Housing”. http:// https://www.nature.com/jes/journal/v11/ ton/PST045216. Accessed September www.tukwilawa.gov/departments/ n3/full/7500165a.html 26, 2017. community-development/rental-housing/ Accessed September 26, 2017. iii. Federal Healthy Homes Work Group. vii. U.S. Census QuickFacts, Seattle city, (2013). Advancing Healthy Housing: Washington; King County, Washington; A Strategy for Action. Retrieved from Tukwila city, Washington. https://www. http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/docu- census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/seattle citywashington,kingcountywashington,

HEALTHY HOUSING CASE STUDY: TUKWILA, WA Page 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

With support through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Cooperative Agree- ment #5U38OT000131-04, the American Public Health Association worked with the National Center for Healthy Housing to feature two case studies of cities that have integrated healthy housing standards into their housing ordinance. We would like to acknowledge the staff at the health agencies that provided the information essential to this report. We are grateful for their participation and willingness to share their stories. The contents of this report are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not represent any official views or endorsement by CDC. CDC funds were not used to fund the work described in the report. This report is not designed to support or defeat enactment of any legislation, pending before Congress or any state or local legislature. Federal, state, tribal and local jurisdictions apply differing rules regarding engagement with legislative bodies and other policy-related activities. Jurisdictions considering legal or other policy initiatives should seek the assistance of state or local legal counsel.