Utah homes: Better kitchens, poorer roofs and foundations, report says

(Salt Lake Tribune) The Salt Lake City-Ogden region has fewer homes with heaters that break down, inadequate kitchens and rooms without electrical outlets, when compared to 44 locations across the country.

But the nonprofit National Center for Healthy Housing adds that homes in the same area have higher levels of exposed wiring and problems with windows, roofs, and foundations than the national average.

The center hopes its new report, released Thursday, spotlights the need to improve housing conditions in many U.S. cities. It points out homes have a direct impact on environmental-related diseases such as asthma and lead poisoning.

The report outlines the conditions of homes in 45 metropolitan areas. Information for Utah came from Davis, Salt Lake and Weber counties but is more than a decade old -- it is based on the Census Bureau's 1998 American Housing Survey.

Federal efforts to provide more up-to-date data have been hampered by budget cuts, the center said.

Utah homes in the surveyed metro areas ranked 32nd out of 45 for healthy housing, while central city homes ranked 24th.

The percentage of post-1940 homes ranked 19th for metro areas and 25th for the central city.

Metropolitan areas of Charlotte, North Carolina; Anaheim-Santa Ana, Calif.; and Atlanta ranked at the top of the healthiest housing list.

At the bottom: metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland and Los Angeles, Calif., and New York City.

Original Article