Indoor Air Quality in Multifamily Housing
Protect IAQ During Multifamily Renovations
In the U.S. one out of five people -- about 80 million -- live in some type of multifamily building. These structures are often referred to as "multi-unit housing" or "multi-housing" and include:
- Attached townhouses
- Low-rise apartments and condos
- Mid-rise apartments and condos
- High-rise apartments and condos
Multifamily buildings pose unique indoor air quality (IAQ) challenges because pollutants may move from unit to unit and residents have limited ability to make changes to the building structure itself.
Comprehensive Indoor Air Quality in Multifamily Buildings
- Energy Savings Plus Health Indoor Air Quality Guidelines for Multifamily Building Upgrades. New EPA guidance for everyone involved in energy and other building upgrades in multifamily housing.
- DOE Multifamily Guidelines for Home Energy Professionals
Radon
- EPA Radon Guide for Tenants: This guide is for people who rent their apartments or houses. The guide explains what radon is, how to find out if there is a radon problem in your home and what you can do if there are high radon levels in your home.
- Radon-resistant construction: Low-Rise Multi-Family Housing (pdf) (4 pp, 78 K). This fact sheet is intended to provide a basic understanding of strategies to reduce radon levels for people involved with the design and construction of low-rise (three stories or less) multi-family buildings. Produced by the National Center for Healthy Housing (NCHH)
- 2013 Housing Notice to include radon assessment in the Multifamily Accelerated Processing (MAP) Guide. Issued in 2013 by the U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
- HUD Radon Policy Notice (pdf) (7 pp, 197 K). Notice H 2013-03
- HUD Mortgage Letter (pdf) (7 pp, 197 K)2013-07 January 31, 2013
- Radon Testing and Mitigation Standards for Multifamily Buildings. American National Standards Institute (ANSI) – American Association of Radon Specialists and Technologists (AARST). For a fee, order a copy from the AARST Bookstore.
Smoke-Free Policies
- Change Is In the Air (pdf) (100 pp, 2.3 MB): An Action Guide for Establishing Smoke-Free Policies in Public Housing and Multifamily Properties by the U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
- Smoke-Free Toolkits: Toolkits for residents and owner/managers who live, and work, in federally assisted housing. Created by U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
- Healthy Homes Manual on Smoke-Free Policies In Multiunit Housing (pdf) (40 pp, 7 MB): This manual is designed for state and local healthy Homes program that are working to reduce secondhand smoke exposure in multiunit housing. The manual provides field tested strategies, recommendations, best practices and tools. Created by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)