June 27, 2019

HUD: Record $330 Million Offered to Clean Up Dangerous Lead and Other Hazards in Housing

Largest funding amount available ever to make low-income housing lead safe

The U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development today announced a record $330 million in grants to clean up lead-based paint hazards and other housing-related health and safety hazards in low-income housing.

Click here to view Secretary Carson talking about the importance of this grant award.

These grants are provided through HUD’s Lead Hazard Reduction and Healthy Homes Production for Tribal Housing grant programs and will direct critical funds to qualifying cities, counties, states and Native American tribal governments to eliminate dangerous lead paint hazards. Additionally, HUD has added a category of cities and counties that have “high impact neighborhoods” with high concentrations of both pre-1940 housing, low-income families, and high rates of young children with elevated blood lead levels.

“Your home is a haven from the outside world. You shouldn’t be worried about the hidden dangers that could affect you and your family,” said Secretary Ben Carson. “Housing conditions directly affect the health of its residents. Grants like these will help communities around the nation protect themselves from the danger of lead exposure and other health and safety hazards.”

Matthew Ammon, Director of HUD’s Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes, added, “By providing these grants, HUD makes it clear that providing healthy and safe homes for the community is a priority. A key part of having a healthy home is maintaining your own health. HUD is committed to protecting families from these hazards and providing healthy and sustainable housing.”

Through these grants programs, HUD’s Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes promotes local efforts to eliminate dangerous lead hazards from lower income homes, stimulates private sector investment in lead hazard control, and educates the public about the dangers of lead-based paint.

Lead Hazard Control Grant Programs

Although lead-based paint was banned for residential use in 1978, HUD estimates that about 24 million homes built before then still have significant lead-based paint hazards today. 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 cause anemia, coma, convulsions and even death.

HUD is making grants available through the following programs:

Lead Hazard Reduction: $324 Million

The purpose of this program is to maximize the number of children under the age of six years protected from lead poisoning by assisting grantees in undertaking comprehensive programs to identify and control lead-based paint hazards in eligible privately-owned target housing. This year, HUD has added a category of cities and counties that have “high impact neighborhoods” with high concentrations of [both] pre-1940 housing, low-income families, and [high rates of] young children with elevated blood lead levels. These five-year grants will be for up to $9.1 million each. In the second grant category, HUD will award 42-month grants of up to $5 million each for controlling lead-based paint hazards in communities with large numbers of occupied pre-1940 rental housing. Other eligible applicants may apply to do this lead hazard control work with 42-month grants of up to $4 million each. Applicants that have never had a HUD lead hazard control grant are eligible for a 42-month grant of up to $3 million each. Application due date: Friday, August 9, 2019.

Healthy Homes Production for Tribal Housing: $12 Million

This program assists American Indian and Alaska Native tribal governments to develop comprehensive programs to identify and remediate housing issues that contribute to health and safety issues in tribal communities. The grant program takes a comprehensive approach to addressing multiple childhood diseases and injuries by focusing on housing-related hazards in a coordinated fashion, rather than addressing a single hazard at a time. The estimated total for this program is $12 million with grants up to one million each. Application due date: Friday, August 9, 2019.

This post was originally published here.