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Model Healthy Homes Code

This model code, developed under a grant from U.S. EPA, contains a menu of healthy housing provisions for any Indiana city or county to use in developing a local code.  Some jurisdictions currently without housing and/or rental codes may find they want to start with basic housing requirements; others may find they have ordinances or codes already in place to deal with fundamental housing and rental issues and are ready to tackle more advanced healthy housing provisions; still others may be somewhere in between. This model language is designed to help any community, regardless of the content of their current healthy housing code.  The document "Model Healthy Homes Code" provides basic language on the key healthy homes topics and a menu of options for developing local healthy homes codes.  Many healthy housing issues involve rental property so we've also included model code dealing specifically with rental issues.

The provisions provided here have been drawn from existing city, county, state and federal codes, the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act  as well as the International Property Maintenance Code.  See "References"  for specific citations and weblinks.

Model Healthy Homes Code  The model code was developed using language from many different recognized sources that are cited in the references section.

Outline   This document is designed as a menu to demonstrate the various healthy housing categories.  It might be useful to review the categories before tackling the entire code.

Definitions  used in the model code.  Definitions help make code or ordinance language clearer.

Model Healthy Homes Code with Annotations   includes brief descriptions of public health implications for many of the provisions. 

Rental Provisions   Since so many healthy housing issues involve rental housing, provisions specific to rental property are presented as a separate document.  These provisions can be mixed and matched with model code language to address specific local needs.

Registry  The efforts of local health departments and building authorities to get corrective action is often thwarted by the difficulty of finding the actual owner of rental property.  Two Indiana cities have developed rental registries to address this challenge.  Their processes are described and  registration forms are available in this section.   

References  This section contains the citations and references that serve as the basis for specific code provisions.

Other Indiana Statutes That Apply   Indiana codes that are relevant to healthy housing but have not been cited elsewhere in these model codes.