CHAIR

Brandon Kitagawa
Regional Asthma Management and Prevention

brandon@rampasthma.org

MEETING TIMES

10:00-11:00 AM
Fourth Mondays

Habitability Workgroup

One of the coalition’s top priorities is addressing issues of substandard housing, including pest infestations, moisture and mold problems, and other unhealthy conditions. This workgroup explores opportunities to improve and prevent substandard conditions through improved housing code and code enforcement practices.

Workgroup Priorities

  • Address the problem of slum lords and landlords with repeated code violations.
  • Improve the standard of practice for code enforcement by expanding the capacity of local code enforcement through increased training and resources for the implementation of existing laws.
  • Expand the adoption of proactive rental housing policies.

Accomplishments

As a result of collaboration, workgroup members have advanced state policies on pest infestations, pesticide use in rental housing, and mold, including:

  • Expanded enforcement authority to ensure that pest infestations can be enforced in every community across the state – SB 488 (2013)
  • Required that the root causes of pest infestations be addressed when owners are cited for a pest infestation, such as plumbing or other water leaks – SB 1167 (2014)
  • Created tenant “right to know” policies about pesticide use of rental properties and homeowner associations – SB 328 (2015) and AB 2362 (2016)
  • Made California the first state in the nation to include mold as an enforceable substandard housing condition  – SB 655 (2015)

*Additional work on integrated pest management (IPM) is now being done in the Indoor Air Quality Workgroup.  You can see our videos on IPM here.

CHHC Webinar

California’s New Mold Law

A Training for Enforcement Officers

On January 26th, 2016 CHHC hosted a webinar for code enforcement and health officers focused on outlining California’s mold law and strategies for implementation. You can view a recording of the webinar here.

Presenters include:

  • Leonard Powell, Code Enforcement Manager, City of Fremont and Regional Director for the California Association of Code Enforcement Officers.  Mr. Powell outlines the requirements of the new law and discusses strategies for enforcement.
  • Craig Wong, Environmental Health Specialist for the City of Long Beach.  Mr. Wong provides some background on indoor mold and walks through the procedures Long Beach has developed over the last two decades of mold enforcement, including identification and documentation of mold problems and verification of remediation.