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Sunday, February 10, 2013

Does Your Dwelling Comply? (With Addendum)

(With a hat tip to Finntann of Western Hero for the article linked below)

Obama Administration Says All Americans Must Have 'Healthy Housing':
(CNSNews.com) - Under the broad banner of "health," the federal government not only is telling Americans what to eat, it's also telling us to make our homes safer.

This week, the Obama administration released a "bold new vision for addressing the nation's health and economic burdens caused by preventable hazards associated with the home."

The project has a name: "Advancing Healthy Housing: A Strategy for Action."

"People in the United States spend about 70% of their time in a home," the announcement said.

"Currently, millions of U.S. homes have moderate to severe physical housing problems, including dilapidated structure; roofing problems; heating, plumbing, and electrical deficiencies; water leaks and intrusion; pests; damaged paint; and high radon gas levels. These conditions are associated with a wide range of health issues, including unintentional injuries, respiratory illnesses like asthma and radon-induced lung cancer, lead poisoning, result in lost school days for children, as well as lost productivity in the labor force."...
Read the rest HERE.

About so-called electrical deficiencies....

This old house, the family homestead, doesn't come up to the county's electrical code. I've had my house inspected by more than one independent electrician. According to these electricians, this house is perfectly safe!

If I had to bring this house up to county code, the entire house would have to be demolished because of the brick-and-plaster structure and the hot-water radiator heat.

So far, the county building-code Nazis allow Mr. AOW and me to live here.  The county does, however, forbid our renting the house to any tenant but family.

I have to wonder if, at a point not distant in the future, "healthy housing" will put a limit on the square footage allowed per occupant. It's not "healthy" for the environment for a couple to own and dwell in "too much square footage," right?


Addendum from Political Tea Leaves: Just How Green IS Your Solar?

32 comments:

  1. Yes all this while he builds (at our expense) a new mansion in Hawaii,,,,

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  2. From the WaPo:

    President Obama is considering a series of new executive actions aimed at working around a recalcitrant Congress, including policies that could...make buildings more energy-efficient...

    [...]

    The moves underscore Obama’s increasingly aggressive use of executive authority, including 23 administrative actions on gun violence last month and previous orders that delayed deportations of young illegal immigrants and will lower student loan payments.


    More at the above link.

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  3. The government needs you to spend more money in order to "help" the economy so... you'll either be forced to spend it to comply with new regulations OR pay fines for violating them.

    Aren't "command economies" wonderful!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Give peple power and they will use to micromanage your life every time.

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  5. I did a post back in 2010 on this. Looks like its getting another try.

    Are you aware of the fact that the Obama administration is planning to force us to register our homes, just like our cars, and get them inspected by an authorized agent of the DOE in order to get an “Inspection Label” for the home. I suggest that you all read the Cap & Trade bill which was passed by the House last June, and which President Barack Obama is probably going to try to ram through the Senate shortly. That abomination of a bill requires us to bring our homes into compliance with each of the new standards for all regulated appliances, in order to legally sell them.

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  6. Bunkerville,
    With a bit of luck, in the near future a developer will snap up this property where I am living right now. Such would be my only escape from dire consequences if this house must past some kind of inspection -- never mind that private companies that could have made money remodeling this old house told me over and over again that this house is safe.

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  7. Read it, and weep: How Obama is wielding executive power in 2nd term

    First paragraph:

    WASHINGTON (AP) -- This is what "Forward" looks like. Fast forward, even.

    Read the rest at the above link.

    This is what electing Obama to a second term has wrought!

    ReplyDelete
  8. How much is related to Obamacare?

    From the AP link in my comment above:

    Since Obama's re-election, regulations giving force and detail to his health care law have gushed out by the hundreds of pages. To some extent this was inevitable: The law is far-reaching and its most consequential deadlines are fast approaching.

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  9. Oh Lord am I glad my old home is already sold... its brick, colonial design would never pass...

    This is absurd. The nanny state is not accurate. Big Brother is getting to be more so. I'll bet over 70% of homes in this country couldn't pass that! So what would happen to the people, if this reaches its logical conclusion?

    They would be homeless, and relying on the feds. Just like with medicare, and food stamps, and unemployment, everything Obama does makes people more and MORE dependent on the federal government.

    Just watch, we will become Oceania before his term is up...

    -Wildstar

    PS no pests? Really? Has the man ever lived in a real house? That one, at the very least, is absurdly impossible. Bugs will fly in no matter what you do!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Wildstar,
    I live on an ant hill. I'm not kidding! I do manage to keep the ant invasions to a minimum -- most of the time.

    No mice here because of the cats.

    But Mrs. Blacksnake may still be living in the basement. I haven't heard her moving around lately, but that doesn't mean that she isn't there.

    This old house is heated with oil, and I'm sure that the EPA disapproves. Hooking up to natural gas would cost about $10,000!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Wildstar said:

    everything Obama does makes people more and MORE dependent on the federal government

    I say: That's the goal!

    ReplyDelete
  12. @AOW well, glad the ants stay mostly at bay! Don't snakes mostly hibernate in winter? She may be quieter because of the colder weather. And I doubt the EPA would even like natural gas for the fumes it gives off when burned... you can smell it quite easily.

    Agreed, it is the point. What to do about it, aye, that's another question entirely.

    -Wildstar

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  13. Think of the ramifications of this as the GOVERNMENT zaps the last of your money, that is if you still have any! No sooner do we learn about the nightmares of "OBAMACARE", now comes this; all under the guise of [health]. Our Thief-in-Chief will stop at nothing to masquerade his nefarious, intrusive Socialistic agenda !

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  14. What pet adviser had his head up Duhwon's A$$ with this one? There is just no end to big government's meddling. Libs, are you watching? You were worried about your bedroom ... Remember? Now YOUR FRIENDS in Washington want your whole house. Remember, I told you they were coming for you when you were no longer needed. Well, they were elected and you're no longer safe.

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  15. Methinks much ado about nothing. The sky isn't falling. It's simply not possible to force people in residence to bring their homes into compliance with current standards unless they present serious health hazards as documented by a legitimate inspector, and the only people who have a right to enter homes are law enforcement, and they need warrants.

    Yes, if you go to sell your home and it's out of compliance, what happens is that the cost of repairs is set aside as part of escrow, and comes off the top. The new owner would then have to have the repairs done with that money before taking occupancy. However, this is often the case RIGHT NOW. Buyers get Home Inspection reports and bargain the price down according to the defects, OR the money is set aside in escrow, like I said.

    The difference here is that apparently this is no longer going to be at the options of the buyer and seller, but mandated instead. Another freedom gone. What else is new? My parents used to complain about exactly that, when I was a little boy.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Black Sheep,
    Counties in Northern Virginia have zoning Nazis. If a home owner doesn't comply with whatever regulations are dished out, fines ensue -- to the tune of at least $100 a day.

    Zoning inspectors can come onto private property without a warrant.

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  17. Black Sheep,

    With all due respect, my friend, the 4th Amendment, as it was intended, no longer exists!

    ReplyDelete
  18. "the sky isn't falling"? What kind of freedom is THIS? Yes, they WILL be coming into our homes and maybe THAT's why they've tried to eliminate as many guns as possible!? :-)

    ReplyDelete
  19. Z,

    "THAT's why they've tried to eliminate as many guns as possible!"

    SPOT ON! As Modern History makes clear, disarming the population is the primary antecedent for tyranny to prevail!

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  20. Yes indeed. We definitely need more government.

    Flo

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  21. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  22. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  23. EREISSARBDRATSABHOHCTIBOHTRAFHOTITHOTNUCHOWERCSHOKCUFHOKCUSHOSSIPHOTIHSHOTSIRHCHO

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  24. Just read about this. Remember when the government pushed for people who could not afford home to be allowed loans to buy them. Yea, that worked out well didn't it.

    How about the government get their economic house in order and just shut up on everything else.

    Debbie
    Right Truth
    http://www.righttruth.typepad.com

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  25. everything Obama does makes people more and MORE dependent on the federal government

    -------
    Now Obama's responsible for building codes.

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  26. Quackinauseo,

    Obama is but a SYMBOL -- a figurehead -- an EMBLEM -- a LOGO -- of the COLLECTIVIST AUTHORITARIAN MENTALITY that will someday tell YOU that you may not have a door on your bathroom anymore, because some stupid kid could lock himself in there and drown in the bathtub.

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  27. "some stupid kid could lock himself in there and drown in the bathtub."

    Or there could be responsible parenting. How about that for a concept? OK, responsibility is becoming obsolete-what was I thinking? I guess it will take a long time, if ever, for the Gene Pool to recover!

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  28. Duck,
    Now Obama's responsible for building codes.

    If his administration is "forcing" those building codes upon local governments, yes. Particularly if these regulations are coming down via executive order.

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  29. Didn't you know that PENICILLIN is a product of mold?

    Sweet are the uses of (apparent) adversity!

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  30. He's out of his depth with real things (the budget, foreign policy), so he sticks to issues (or, in this case, non-issues) that do little other than to curb out freedoms. If houses were so dangerous, we'd have a clue about it.

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  31. As the geopolitical chessboard burns around him, the community activist wants safer homes for Americans. Who is going to pay for all of this?

    Three guesses and the first two do not count: the working middle-class.

    This essentially means that you do not have the right to live within your own home as you see fit.

    City codes are sufficient for homes. Do we really want the government with open access to our private space? This is not about safety, it is about control. It is about loss of personal freedom.

    Tammy Swofford

    ReplyDelete
  32. Tammy,
    This essentially means that you do not have the right to live within your own home as you see fit.

    It's also about making us cookie-cutter versions of what the statists demand.

    You know what? Sometimes I feel as if we are now dwelling within the pages of a dystopian novel. Think Fahrenheit 451 -- for starters.

    ReplyDelete

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