CHESAPEAKE, Va. — The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on Tuesday awarded $530,000 to the Chesapeake Redevelopment and Housing Authority.
The money will be used to identify and reduce lead-based paint hazards in the agency’s older public housing units.
Nationally, $27.8 million was awarded to 38 Public Housing Agencies (PHAs) in 25 states. Provided through HUD’s Public Housing Capital Fund, the grants will target about 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 in a press release. “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.”
Joe DeFelice, the regional administrator of HUD’s Mid-Atlantic region, said that Chesapeake's funding comes on the heels of the first Mid-Atlantic Lead and Healthy Homes Summit in Baltimore.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development estimated that about 24 million older homes still have significant lead-based paint hazards, even though lead-based paint was banned from homes in 1978.
Most public housing has already undergone abatement, but there are still some properties where lead-based paint remains, and the hazards have redeveloped.
Other hazards caused by lead-based paint includes lead-contaminated dust. It is the primary cause of lead exposure and can lead to a variety of health problems in young children.
lead-contaminated dust can cause the following problems in children:
- Reduced IQ
- Learning disabilities
- Developmental delays
- Reduced height
- Impaired hearing
- Damage to a child's kidneys, central nervous system
- It can even be deadly
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).