The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has issued a “reminder” to the nation’s public housing authorities encouraging them to test for and mitigate radon.

It’s not immediately clear what impact, if any, that guidance will have on the prospect of testing for the cancer-causing gas.

HUD released its advice via email to housing authorities at 5 p.m. Friday, after The Oregonian/OregonLive published online a year-long investigation into the lack of action by HUD and local agencies to protect tenants from exposure.

“It has come to our attention, through the investigative reporting of The Oregonian, that radon testing and mitigation has not received the attention” that HUD has encouraged, the email reads.

Although HUD does not require radon testing, the agency in February 2013 “strongly encouraged” local authorities to test.

But HUD never checked to see if authorities complied. And the federal agency itself failed to ensure testing by 10 local authorities it directly controlled between 2013 and June 2018, the newsroom’s investigation found.

The Oregonian/OregonLive surveyed 64 agencies nationwide and found that fewer than one in three could provide testing records showing they looked for radon. The newsroom also identified three agencies that did conduct testing but failed to fix known radon problems.

In three other cities where authorities tested only occasionally, only in the 1990s or not at all, The Oregonian/OregonLive and affiliates of its corporate parent, Advance Local, readily found high levels of radon through independent testing by reporters and tenants.

None of those agencies announced that it would test in response.

Radon seeps in through flooring and is the second-leading cause of lung cancer in the United States, killing an estimated 21,000 Americans each year, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Although indoor radon was labeled “a national health problem” more than 30 years ago, HUD has not forced housing authorities to test for radon.

HUD’s latest notice appears to place the blame for inaction on housing authorities.

“It is your obligation to provide safe, decent, and sanitary housing in your community, and this obligation includes testing and mitigating exposure to harmful toxins in homes,” R. Hunter Kurtz, HUD’s assistant secretary for public housing, told local directors.

Kurtz also said in his email that “health in housing is a premier priority” under the leadership of Secretary Ben Carson.

HUD declined multiple requests to make Carson available for an interview during the newsroom’s investigation. The agency also declined to answer written questions.

The agency on Monday did not respond to questions about its statement to housing authorities.

Local housing agencies oversee about 1 million units of public housing that are funded by HUD. More than 400,000 public housing tenants live in areas of the country where indoor radon levels are projected to be above the federal standard for installing removal systems.

-- Brad Schmidt

bschmidt@oregonian.com

503-294-7628

@_brad_schmidt