Minnesota Senator Calls Attention to Public Housing Maintenance Issues, Aims for Inclusion in Infrastructure Package

(KNSI) – Minnesota’s junior senator is again calling attention to the issue of safety in older public housing buildings around the state and country.

On Tuesday, Sen. Tina Smith, chair of the Senate’s Housing, Transportation, and Community Development Subcommittee, hosted a hearing on lead, radon and fire risks in those public housing buildings. Smith says the hearing was productive.

“The first thing that we need to do, I think, is to help local communities install sprinkler systems and carbon monoxide detectors in publicly supported housing,” Smith said. “These are places where often the residents are elders, people living with disabilities, and they deserve a safe and decent place to live.”

Earlier in this legislative session, Smith and Sen. Amy Klobuchar introduced the Public Housing Fire Safety Act, which aims to install more fire sprinkler systems in public housing high-rises. The legislation was crafted in response to a 2019 fire in Minneapolis that killed five people. Smith says she wants to get that legislation included in one of Congress’ big infrastructure bills this year.

But, Smith says, there are other issues to be addressed in the United States’ public housing buildings.

“The long-standing deferred maintenance that we have in many of these buildings, where there are problems with mold and lead paint and just general disrepair, I want to help,” Smith said. “In the American Jobs Plan that President [Joe] Biden is putting forward that I strongly support, I want to help address some of that long-standing deferred maintenance.”

Deferred maintenance is a relevant concern following last month’s condo collapse in Surfside, Florida — Minnesotans have been asking state and local building inspectors about the structural integrity of their residences following that collapse. Smith says the Surfside tragedy is a reminder that buildings’ maintenance needs cannot be ignored.

“There’s reports of having the local community [in Surfside] saying that the building had structural issues and nothing being done on any side, and then we end up with this tragic consequence,” Smith said. “I think, to me, it is a lesson in how you can’t ignore these long-term maintenance issues for buildings, and it’s why I strongly support this big infusion of help to fix up these older buildings.”

There are approximately 20,000 public housing buildings in Minnesota.

Minnesotans concerned about the presence of radon or lead paint in their homes can find resources on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s website.

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