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Improve Public Health, the Environment and Racial Equity All at Once: Upgrade Low-Income Housing

During a presidential election debate on Oct. 22, 2020, former President Donald Trump railed against Democratic proposals to retrofit homes. “They want to take buildings down because they want to make bigger windows into smaller windows,” he said. “As far as they’re concerned, if you had no window, it would be a lovely thing.”

What a difference five months makes. While replacing your big windows with small ones is not on the Biden-Harris administration’s agenda, increasing home energy efficiency is. Addressing these and other housing issues is critical for three of the new administration’s immediate priorities: ending the COVID-19 pandemic, addressing climate change and tackling racial and economic inequality.

As an environmental health researcher, I have studied ways in which inadequate housing influences health and disproportionately affects low-income families and communities of color. In my view, retrofitting low-income housing, in particular, is a high-leverage way to tackle some of our nation’s most pressing health, social and environmental challenges.

Housing shapes everything
The pandemic has spotlighted how directly housing affects people’s health. It’s intuitively clear that physical distancing is hard if your family lives in a few rooms. And studies have shown that crowded indoor environments, including houses and apartments, are high-risk settings for contracting COVID-19.

Housing also is a substantial contributor to climate change. About 20% of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions come from residential energy use. Large homes generally use more energy, but lower-income homes are often less energy-efficient, which makes them costly to heat and cool.

One recent survey found that between spring 2019 and spring 2020, 25% of low-income American households were unable to pay an energy bill. Families may be forced to cut necessities such as food or medicine to pay energy bills, or endure unhealthy temperatures. As changing climate lengthens summer, and there are more scorching hot days, those who lack air conditioning or can’t afford it are in danger.


Read more: https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/to-improve-public-health-the-environment-and-racial-equity-all-at-once-upgr

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Biden lays groundwork for environmental regulations

The Biden administration is poised to take significant action on a range of environmental issues.

In the coming weeks, officials are expected to release a new plan for reaching the goals set out under the Paris Climate Agreement and recommend changes to several national monuments. More broadly, the administration is considering steps that could include taking a harder line on climate regulations.

And while the regulatory process can be slow, Biden officials have already made moves to delay or nix certain Trump era rules, in addition to setting sights on replacing them. Environmental groups have indicated they’re willing to be patient as the process unfolds.

“It’s going to take time to undo all the harm — to wildlife, to special places, to communities, and to the climate” sustained under the Trump administration, Athan Manuel, director of the Sierra Club's Land Protection Program, said in an email.

Through a series of executive actions since taking office, President Biden has charted a course for his administration to undo many of the environmental policies implemented by his predecessor.

After moving to rejoin the Paris Agreement, administration officials said that by Earth Day they would revise a national plan outlining the country’s commitments under the international accord.

In doing so, Biden is expected to exceed the Obama-era goals of reducing U.S. emissions by 26 percent to 28 percent compared to 2005 levels by 2025.


Much more: https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/545190-biden-lays-groundwork-for-environmental-regulations