Guest Post by Megan Liu & Erika Schreder with Toxic Free Future
Toxic-Free Future and partners created a new tool called the Healthy Materials Matrix that makes it easier for affordable housing developers to avoid toxic chemicals and create healthier housing.
The Healthy Materials Matrix was created in partnership with the Housing Development Consortium, Healthy Building Network, Sundberg Kennedy Ly-Au Young Architects, and International Living Future Institute, so that project teams working on affordable housing have an actionable guide for selecting healthier building materials that are free of toxics.
While we may not realize it, the building materials used in our workplaces, schools, and homes can contain chemicals harmful to health. For example, toxic halogenated flame retardants can be found in insulation, formaldehyde is used in composite wood, and phthalates are found in sealants, flooring, windows, and doors. These are just a few examples of toxic building materials.
Everyone can be exposed to harmful chemicals in the indoor environment, but affordable housing deserves special attention. That’s because residents of affordable housing tend to have disproportionately high exposure to toxic chemicals in building materials and furnishings as well as from other sources. Safer materials do exist and we don’t need harmful chemicals in materials we use to build and furnish buildings.
With safer materials already in existence for most major building products, we saw an opportunity to create a new resource that can help affordable housing developers use safer materials and show policymakers that harmful chemicals in building materials can be regulated.
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