Severe housing code violations were deemed ones that were imminently hazardous to a person's life (e.g., unvented combustion appliances, broken stairs and railings, excessive clutter making it difficult to exit a homes, inadequate lighting, smoke and carbon monoxide alarms present). On average more than half of these hazards were corrected by the reassessment. Many of these hazards fall outside the jurisdiction of the person performing the Healthy Homes assessment/reassessment and a referral to the agency/program with the authority to mandate correction must be made. At times the referral may not be followed up on or the person making the referral does not see the outcome by the reassessment.

CT DPH promotes the need for partnering agencies (e.g., local health jurisdictions, housing code enforcement officials, bulding code enforcement officials, and fire code enforcement official) performing the inspections and reassessments work together with other agencies/programs to ensure that referrals are followed up on in a timely manner. The agency/program performing the inspection/reassessment must order correction of the severe violations they have jurisdiction over. They must also develop and maintain good working relationships with partner agencies/programs (e.g., housing, building, and fire) to ensure that violoations outside their jurisdiction will be followed up on and corrected.

Promoting the importance of the correction of the severe housing code violations and the need to foster partnerships with agencies/program where referrals are made so violations outside of their purview can still be tracked to conclusion.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH), Division of Emergency and Environmental Health Services , Healthy Homes and Lead Poisoning Prevention Branch, 2010, Developing a Healthy Homes Program
http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/publications/10_217029A_Walker_HealthyHomesBooklet_101310_UPDATED_WithCovers.pdf

DPH promotes the importance of the correction of the severe housing code violations and the need to foster partnerships with agencies/program (e.g., housing, building, and fire) where referrals are made so violations outside of their purview can still be tracked to conclusion.