[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 12 (Thursday, January 23, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Page S1461]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 RECOGNIZING THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR HEALTHY HOUSING'S 10TH ANNIVERSARY

  Mr. REED. Mr. President, I rise today to recognize the National 
Center for Healthy Housing as it celebrates its 10th year of protecting 
children from residential environmental hazards while preserving the 
supply of affordable housing.
  The National Center for Healthy Housing was founded in 1992 as the 
National Center for Lead-Safe Housing to address the No. 1 
environmental health problem facing our Nation's children, childhood 
lead poisoning, and the threat that lead paint posed to the 
preservation of our Nation's affordable housing stock. Since its 
inception, the center has become our country's preeminent source of 
technical and practical information on reducing the threat of lead 
paint hazards in housing. The center was responsible for publishing the 
first comprehensive technical guidelines for evaluating and controlling 
lead paint hazards in housing, which are still being used today. The 
center conducted a scientific evaluation of 14 projects funded by the 
Department of Housing and Urban Development, (HUD), Lead-Based Paint 
Hazard Control Grant program. The evaluation yielded important 
information about the effectiveness of lead hazard control treatments 
and the results continue to inform national lead poisoning prevention 
policy. The center also published a groundbreaking scientific study on 
the relationship between settled lead dust levels and blood lead levels 
in children. It was this study that highlighted the insidious nature of 
the hazardous dust generated from lead-based paint.
  Despite its many research accomplishments, the center is perhaps best 
known for its unique ability to translate scientific research and 
Government regulations into results. When HUD published its final lead-
safe housing regulation 2 years ago, communities expressed concern 
about the lack of trained personnel to carry out the rule's 
requirements. In response, the center administered training to over 
14,000 individuals across the country, enabling them to perform the 
lead-related services required by the rule. When local housing programs 
expressed a need to better understand the rule's requirements and how 
to incorporate them into the Community Development Block Grant and HOME 
programs, the center provided training to over 2,000 housing program 
staff in over 40 communities.
  Today, as the National Center for Healthy Housing, the center 
continues its commitment to childhood lead poisoning prevention and is 
expanding its expertise to other environmental hazards in the home such 
as mold, allergens, and other irritants.
  As we celebrate the center's 10th anniversary, I would also like to 
pay tribute to its founding director, Nick Farr. Mr. Farr retired last 
October after a long and distinguished career in both the public and 
private sectors. Much of his professional experience was in the areas 
of housing finance, housing and urban development, and housing-based 
lead poisoning prevention. A graduate of Yale Law School, Mr. Farr 
spent the 1950s and early 1960s in private practice. In 1962, Mr. Farr 
joined the Agency for International Development at the U.S. Department 
of State as Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Near East and South 
Asia economic assistance programs. Five years later, President Lyndon 
Johnson appointed him Director of the Model Cities Administration at 
the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. In the 1970s, Mr. 
Farr was a New York University law professor before joining the U.S. 
Department of Commerce as General Counsel to the Economic Development 
Administration in 1977. In 1979, Mr. Farr was appointed General Deputy 
Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development at the U.S. 
Department of Housing and Urban Development. Then in the 1980s, Mr. 
Farr was Executive Director of the California Housing Finance Agency, 
Executive Vice President of the Wells Fargo Mortgage Company in 
California, and Vice President for Field Services at The Enterprise 
Foundation. During his tenure with The Enterprise Foundation, Mr. Farr 
served on the board of directors of a nonprofit housing developer based 
in Baltimore that focused on creating affordable, lead-safe housing 
units. As a result of his service on this board and his accumulated 
professional experience, in 1992, Mr. Farr conceived of, and created, 
the National Center for Lead-Safe Housing. As the founding director of 
the center, Mr. Farr helped spearhead a variety of public and private 
initiatives to protect our Nation's children from residential lead 
hazard exposures.
  I ask my colleagues to join me in saluting Nick Farr's legacy and the 
profound impact that the National Center for Healthy Housing has had 
and continues to have on the creation and maintenance of safer and 
healthier affordable housing for low-income families across our Nation.

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