State and Local Policy

States and localities have ultimate control over the quality and condition of housing in their jurisdictions. NCHH works to (1) strengthen model codes used by states and localities and eliminate hazardous conditions in housing; and (2) support agencies, legislative bodies, and advocates as they establish policies and procedures to create healthier homes through laws and regulations that implement minimum standards for healthful conditions.

State-Specific Tools

The pages listed below are meant to provide state and local policy makers and advocates with tools to address the unique healthy housing strengths and needs of their communities. These pages include information about each state as well as case studies and guidelines for shaping policy below the federal level.

Healthy Housing

State Healthy Housing Fact Sheets
NCHH has created healthy housing fact sheets for each of the 50 states, plus Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, and a sheet for the U.S. as a whole. Each sheet contains eight facts about health hazards like lead paint, radon, carbon monoxide, indoor asthma triggers, and others, with embedded hyperlinks to the reference source materials.

State of Healthy Housing
The State of Healthy Housing report was created to alert policy makers and advocates in the locations included in the report about the housing conditions in their communities. The ultimate goal is to increase awareness of housing-related health hazards and to provide the basis for additional investment in affordable, healthy housing. The report covers 45 metropolitan statistical areas and includes two indicators.

Learning Communities

Find and Compare State and Local Codes
NCHH compiled this index of tools to help explore your state and local codes. It includes our interactive code comparison tool, multiple online code libraries, state-specific examples, and information about energy and green codes across the country.

Building Codes

International Code Council
In response to America’s need for a single set of consistent construction regulations, the International Code Council (ICC) developed, through the governmental consensus process, the first set of coordinated and comprehensive construction, fire, and property maintenance codes for use nationwide. Find out more from NCHH here about these codes, how they’re used, and what improvements we recommend.

National Healthy Housing Standard
In partnership with the American Public Health Association and with thoughtful input from two expert committees, NCHH developed the National Healthy Housing Standard to inform and deliver housing policy that reflects the latest understanding of the connections between housing conditions and health. Our focus in the National Healthy Housing Standard is the over 100 million existing homes in our country that offer the most significant opportunity to protect public health and reduce health disparities.

Policy Resources

NCHH’s policy resources section includes a wide variety of topics, offering links to work we have done as well as tools and publications from partner and other organizations. These are just a few of the topics covered; for more resources, in policy and other areas, visit NCHH’s curated resources.