Lead in Paint: HUD Seeks Comments on a New Grant Approach
Changing the way communities receive lead hazard reduction funds is significant, and this comment period could shape prevention efforts for years.
Changing the way communities receive lead hazard reduction funds is significant, and this comment period could shape prevention efforts for years.
These changes can serve as a model to federal OSHA and other states.
By August, the House and Senate appropriations committees are expected to consider HUD’s funding needs and pass funding bills for FY25. Congress should adopt an appropriations bill that addresses the statutory and administrative barriers that have hamstrung the program.
Unleaded Kids joined 10 other organizations in asking the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) to tighten its lead standards for new paint and children’s products.
EPA ordered a property owner of an apartment complex in a renovated old factory in Connecticut to assess and clean up lead-based paint hazards after the agency determined the hazards “may present an imminent and substantial endangerment” to tenants. The agency acted pursuant to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) as a backstop when the local health department lacked authority to address units where no young children lived.
Congress cut HUD’s FY24 appropriations for its Lead Hazard Reduction Grant Program by 31%, from $290 to $200 million for FY24…Making matters worse, Congress also took back $65 million appropriated in FY22 for this program that HUD had until September 30, 2024, to obligate by issuing grants to communities to clean up lead-based paint hazards.
Rhode Island held an impressive second annual Summit to End Childhood Lead Poisoning cosponsored by the state’s Attorney General and Department of Health. I was honored to be able to join about 200 people who participated in person on February 2.