“American families deserve a safe and healthy place to call home. However, in many older homes, lead-based paint can be a serious threat to the health and well-being of children,” HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge said in the release. “This funding effort will help us identify homes where occupants are at risk of lead exposure and other health hazards, and build on our promise of a healthier, stronger country.”
The grant, from the Capital Fund Housing-Related Hazards (HRH) & Lead-Based Paint (LBP) Capital Fund Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) awards is meant to aid public housing agencies in evaluating and reducing residential health hazards in public housing, according to the release.
According to the release, the funds will also help public housing agencies like SMHA prepare for compliance with the National Standards for the Physical Inspection of Real Estate which “improves HUD’s oversight by aligning and consolidating inspection regulations used to evaluate HUD housing across multiple programs.”
“Lead poisoning is an entirely preventable tragedy that dramatically impacts a child’s health and ability to learn,” said HUD Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Richard Monocchio in the release. “This funding opportunity will help families across the country protect their children from lead poisoning and exposure to other hazardous contaminants in their homes. Particularly in many of our neighborhoods with older housing stock, it is critical to identify and remediate housing units with potential lead-based paint to ensure our kids can grow up healthy.”
SMHA Executive Director Michelle Lee-Hall said this grant brings the agency to three total federal grants within the last 12 months. She said this totals $3 million in funding.
HUD announced it awarded $157 million to agencies across the country, with 20 grants for the purpose of addressing lead-based paint and 54 being for housing related hazards.
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