Reference Guide

The Standard provides health-based provisions to fill gaps where no property maintenance policy exists and also a complement to the International Property Maintenance Code and other policies already in use by local and state governments and federal agencies for the upkeep of existing homes. The Standard bridges the health and building code communities by putting modern public health information into housing code parlance. The Standard is written in code language to ease its adoption, although we anticipate that states, localities, and other users will tailor it to local conditions. The Standard consists of seven chapters and a section of definitions. The annotated version of the Standard explains the public health rationale for each provision, and provides references and resources for more information. Individually and together, the Standard constitutes minimum performance standards for a safe and healthy home. In developing the Standard we found a variety of provisions that could be added to further enhance the health and safety of the home, but that would be difficult to achieve during property maintenance due to cost or feasibility. We have included those provisions as “stretch” measures for users who want to go above the minimum requirements or who can integrate compliance with the provisions during property renovation. We encourage the adoption of the stretch provisions wherever feasible. 

Safe, clean, and habitable housing is central to the health of individuals, families, and communities. When housing falls into disrepair or has pests, moisture, inadequate ventilation, and/or chemicals, it has the potential to harm residents. Under these conditions, the home can become an unhealthy, or dangerous, environment. Substandard housing conditions can cause or exacerbate health problems, posing an acute risk to young children, seniors, and people with chronic illnesses.2,3 These conditions can lead to asthma,4 housing-related injuries,5 and elevated lead levels in children,6 among other health outcomes. Local code enforcement programs are the first line of defense in ensuring safe and healthy housing for residents. To be effective, these programs require strong housing codes, well-trained enforcement officers, cross-agency collaboration, partnerships with community agencies, programs to assist residents and property owners, and thoughtful data collection and evaluation. This guide is designed to give an overview of the practices and strategies necessary for code enforcement programs to protect residents and preserve housing effectively. Each chapter addresses a specific component of code enforcement, and offers resources to assist jurisdictions in implementing programs. We use several terms in this guide. We use locality and jurisdiction to refer to towns, cities, counties, and other forms of local government. We use the term property owner to refer to the individual who owns and maintains housing, and the term resident to refer to the person who lives in housing. Occasionally, we use the term renter to refer to renters specifically. Officer is used to refer to an individual who inspects housing, cites for violations, and enforces housing code.