Kamala Harris and SC's Joe Cunningham teaming up for public low-income home safety standards

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Jerusalem Demsas @JeruDemsas 4h4 hours ago
NEW: @KamalaHarris and @JoeCunninghamSC are teaming up after recent reports in South Carolina where officials found dangerously high levels of carbon monoxide in Columbia public housing where more than 400 people lived including more than 140 children.

Jerusalem Demsas @JeruDemsas 4h4 hours ago
Their proposed legislation would require all public housing to have at least one carbon monoxide detector on *each* floor of each unit, based on standards determined by HUD. Read more here: https://t.co/ZsNS2ACOiz

___Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., unveiled a bill Tuesday requiring carbon monoxide detectors in federally subsidized public housing, after an NBC News investigation showed how a widespread lack of the devices posed a threat to millions of low-income families. At least 11 public housing residents have died of carbon monoxide poisoning since 2003, but the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development does not require CO detectors, the investigation found.

“These are preventable tragedies," Harris, who is running for president, said in a statement Tuesday. "We must act now to get carbon monoxide detectors in HUD housing to protect the health and well-being of the millions who reside there."

Harris’ proposed legislation would require all public housing to have at least one carbon monoxide detector on each floor of each unit, based on standards determined by HUD.

NBC News' investigation found that state and local requirements on carbon monoxide detectors are patchy and inconsistently enforced. Since HUD does not require detectors and therefore does not check for them during regular inspections, many residents of taxpayer-funded housing have little protection against carbon monoxide, a colorless, odorless gas that at high levels can kill in minutes. The elderly and young children, who make up a disproportionate number of the country's 4.6 million public housing residents, are particularly vulnerable to carbon monoxide's dangers.

Harris’ office provided a background press statement on the bill that cited the investigation’s findings and said that HUD “failed to live up to its obligation to ensure safe and hazard-free conditions for Americans living in public housing.”

Harris visited Columbia, South Carolina, for the first time as a presidential contender in late January, a little over a week after two of the city’s public housing residents died of carbon monoxide poisoning and over 400 people lost their homes because of dangerous living conditions at the Allen Benedict Court complex.

read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/sen-kamala-harris-unveils-bill-require-carbon-monoxide-detectors-public-n982071