More than 400,000 public housing tenants live in areas at highest risk for indoor radon, our analysis found. Over a lifetime, breathing the radioactive gas makes lung cancer as likely as dying in a car crash. The federal government blares warnings to private homeowners, and tens of thousands have responded by installing specialized ventilation systems. But when it comes to housing owned for the benefit of America’s poorest families, our investigation found that the government ignores its own advice. Cancer Cloud showed vulnerable people have been exposed to hazardous radon levels because local housing authorities refused to find and remove it. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development allowed it to happen, despite a legal mandate since 1988 to protect tenants from the radioactive gas. The result is a shameful disparity that disproportionately harms poor families and people of color.
