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HUD Awards More than $970,000 to LMHA to Clean up Lead
Hazards in Toledo
Funding to identify and
control potentially dangerous lead in homes with young
children
Special to The Truth
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
last week awarded $970,225 to Lucas Metropolitan Housing
Authority to identify and reduce lead-based paint hazards in
two of its public housing developments. This award is part
of the $27.8 million that HUD issued to 38 Public Housing
Agencies (PHAs) in 25 states provided through HUD’s Public
Housing Capital Fund. These grants will be targeted to
approximately 2,800 public housing units, most of which are
currently occupied by families with young children.
“We have no higher calling
than to make certain the public housing that taxpayers
support is healthy for our vulnerable families to live in,”
said HUD Secretary Ben Carson. “As a doctor who treated many
young children, I witnessed the close connection between
health and housing. Today we make another critical
investment in the futures of young children growing up in
public housing.”
“HUD is taking pro-active
measures in protecting families and their children by
identifying and addressing housing hazards that have an
impact on potential health issues,” said HUD Midwest
Regional Administrator Joseph P. Galvan.
“We are very excited and
grateful to be awarded this grant and it couldn’t have come
at a better time,” said Demetria Simpson, Lucas Metropolitan
Housing Authority president and CEO. “We are working to keep
our children and families safe from lead with the Healthy
Homes Initiative. We have tested over 500 units in recent
months, and now plan to test 1,000 more.”
Although lead-based paint
was banned for residential use in 1978, HUD estimates that
about 24 million older homes still have significant
lead-based paint hazards today. However, homes receiving
rental assistance, including public housing, tend to have a
lower prevalence of lead-based paint hazards compared to
private housing. While most public housing has already
undergone abatement, there are still some properties where
lead-based paint remains and hazards have redeveloped.
Lead-contaminated dust is
the primary cause of lead exposure and can lead to a variety
of health problems in young children, including reduced IQ,
learning disabilities, developmental delays, reduced height,
and impaired hearing. At higher levels, lead can damage a
child’s kidneys and central nervous system and can even be
deadly.
In addition to the funding
announced, HUD will award a record $330 million later this
year to clean up lead-based paint and other housing-related
health and safety hazards in privately owned low-income
housing.
In 2017, HUD published a new
rule lowering the Department’s threshold of lead in the
child’s blood to match the more protective guidance of the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This
important change to HUD’s Lead Safe Housing Rule allows for
a faster response if a young child is exposed to lead-based
paint hazards in their HUD-assisted homes.
Since 1993, HUD has awarded
more than $2 billion in grants to communities for
identification and control of lead-based paint hazards in
over 200,000 low-income privately owned housing units. In
addition, HUD supports research on best practices for
identifying and controlling lead-based paint hazards and
conducts an outreach program to get out the message. |
