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A resident of senior housing cuts fresh herbs from the Tapiz Urban Garden. The garden is part of the Mariposa Development, developed on a former brownfield site with assistance from the EPA Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization under the Partnership for Sustainable Communities. (Image courtesy of Denver Housing Authority.)

Image courtesy of Denver Housing Authority.

 

Pursuing Environmental Justice

 

Addressing climate and environmental justice is at the core of HUD’s mission to create strong, sustainable, inclusive communities. Environmental justice means ensuring equal protection from environmental and health hazards and providing equal and meaningful opportunity to participate in the decision-making process to achieve a healthy environment. In this plan, HUD commits to a variety of actions to empower communities to achieve climate resilience, facilitate economic opportunities, and eliminate health risks caused by environmental injustices. HUD has established environmental justice as a budget priority, ensuring that both HUD staff and its external stakeholders are aware of the significance of avoiding and reversing environmental inequities.

HUD strongly supports Justice40, the Administration’s whole-of-government effort to ensure that at least 40 percent of overall Federal investments in climate and clean energy are delivered to disadvantaged communities. Because of its unique focus on supporting low-income communities, HUD anticipates that most of its programs already exceed this goal. Nonetheless, HUD will strive to maximize investments in low-income communities, communities of color, and other disadvantaged and historically underserved communities.

HUD will ensure equal protection from environmental and health hazards for these communities while investing in reversing disparities in health outcomes and economic opportunity by

  • Helping Tribal communities achieve safe, resilient housing and infrastructure through improved access to data, technical support, and funding opportunities;
  • Piloting new models for Section 3 compliance activities to support green workforce development in the communities that HUD serves;
  • Providing resources and technical support to help communities improve equity in both community planning and community engagement;
  • Reducing and preventing lead exposure and poisoning by expanding HUD’s existing lead control programs and partnering with EPA to assess and remediate potential health risks to residents of public and assisted housing from Superfund sites;
  • Developing targeted policy, guidance, and technical assistance for HUD customers to help minimize radon exposure in the Nation’s housing stock; and
  • Updating HUD’s environmental review policies to ensure consideration of climate- and environmental justice-related hazards and health risks in all proposed site selection and placement of new assistance activities.

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