In an email to Housing First Minnesota on Friday, June 11, the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) announced that will engage with stakeholders on the Renovation, Repair, and Painting (RRP) Rule. The rule would replace the EPA’s renovation rules of pre-1978 homes in Minnesota.
This announcement follows a May 27 request for stakeholder engagement and additional documentation from Housing First Minnesota, Minnesota Realtors, and the Central Minnesota Builders Association. On June 10, Housing First Minnesota Executive Director David Siegel reiterated the May 27 request for engagement as well as outlined technical concerns with the proposal.
MDH also said that the RRP proposal as it exists today will not be the final version issued, reversing previous statements made to Housing First Minnesota staff.
Last month, MDH issued the first publicly available draft of the RRP rule in two years. The last stakeholder meeting of the RRP proposal was in August 2017.
Housing First Minnesota has been leading on this issue since 2017, and the association’s efforts have shifted MDH’s approach from lead abatement to one that more closely resembles the existing EPA RRP rule’s lead mitigation. In Summer 2017, Housing First organized a coalition to keep remodeling safe and affordable and met with senior EPA officials about the state’s abatement approach. Housing First Minnesota has also sent multiple technical memos to MDH and offered up two rewritten proposals for consideration.
Housing First Minnesota will continue to work with members of the housing industry to push for a rule that ensures remodeling pre-1978 homes remains safe and affordable.
Members with questions about Minnesota’s plan to take custody of the EPA’s RRP rule should contact Nick Erickson, director of research and regulatory affairs, at nick@housingfirstmn.org.
Related:
- Housing First Minnesota Seeks More Engagement from State On RRP Rule
- Housing First Outlines Lead Paint Rule Concerns, Reiterates Request For Engagement
