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HUD No. 06-118IL Brian Sullivan (202) 708-0685 |
For
Release Thursday September 21, 2006 |
JACKSON ANNOUNCES $118 MILLION IN GRANTS TO PROTECT CHILDREN FROM DANGEROUS LEAD AND OTHER HOME HEALTH AND SAFETY HAZARDS
Cook, Peoria, Madison and St. Clair Counties and University of Illinois at Chicago and in Champaign-Urbana receive more than $10 million
WASHINGTON - Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson today awarded more than $118 million
in grants to dozens of state and local communities, public health organizations and scientific research institutions to better protect children and families from dangerous lead-based paint and other home health and safety hazards.
In addition, HUD is making available another $39 million in funding to clean up lead hazards in communities with the greatest need, specifically cities with a high incidence of lead poisoning and older homes. To facilitate the greatest number of applicants for these grants, HUD will be aggressively promoting the Department's Lead Hazard Reduction Demonstration Grant Program to mayors and county officials of every eligible jurisdiction across the country.
"Today, we take another step closer toward ending childhood lead poisoning and making our homes safer and
healthier places in which to raise our children," said Jackson. "While we've made great progress in reducing lead poisoning, we cannot rest until we banish this preventable disease to the history books."
The following is a breakdown of the funding announced today:
Program |
Award Amount |
| Lead-Based Paint Hazard Control in Privately Owned Housing | $81,653,722 |
| Lead Hazard Reduction Demonstration Grant Program | $20,535,349 |
| Operation Lead Elimination Action Program (LEAP) | $5,999,823 |
| Lead Technical Studies Grants | $2,778,130 |
| Lead Outreach Grants | $2,000,000 |
| Healthy Homes Demonstration Grants | $3,760,259 |
| Healthy Homes Technical Studies Grants | $1,570,120 |
| Total | $118,297,403 |
HUD grants will help 63 state and local projects around the country to conduct a wide range of activities including cleaning up lead-based paint hazards and improving living conditions of lower income families. Through seven grant programs, HUD's Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control promotes local efforts to eliminate dangerous
lead and other hazards from lower income homes; stimulates private sector investment in lead hazard control; educates the public about the dangers of lead-based paint; and supports scientific research into innovative
methods to identify and eliminate health hazards in housing.
Lead Hazard Control Grant Programs
The funding announced today includes $102 million to cities, counties and states to eliminate dangerous lead paint hazards in thousands of privately owned, low-income housing units. These funds are provided through HUD's Lead-Based Paint Hazard Control and the Lead Hazard Reduction Demonstration grant programs. In addition, HUD's Operation LEAP (Lead Elimination Action Program) will provide nearly $6 million to encourage private sector contributions that will enable children to grow up in homes that are free from lead-based paint hazards. HUD will
also award $2 million in Lead Outreach grants for public education campaigns on what parents, building owners and others can do to protect children. Further, nearly $2.8 million will assist research to study methods to reduce the
cost and increase the effectiveness of lead hazard control strategies.
Healthy Homes Initiative
A variety of preventable health and safety hazards threaten children every year. For example, excessive dust or moisture in the home can trigger asthma. Injuries from scalding, electrical shock or carbon monoxide poisoning can easily be prevented with modest home repairs. HUD's Healthy Homes Initiative addresses these and other childhood diseases and injuries in the home by taking a holistic approach, and approaches housing-related hazards in a coordinated fashion, rather than addressing a single hazard at a time.
The funding announced today includes nearly $3.8 million in demonstration grants to identify and eliminate housing conditions that contribute to children's disease and injury, such as asthma, mold exposure, and carbon monoxide contamination. HUD is also investing more than $1.5 million to support scientific research into new ways of
identifying and eliminating health hazards in housing.
HUD is the nation's housing agency committed to increasing homeownership, particularly among minorities; creating affordable housing opportunities for low-income Americans; and supporting the homeless, elderly, people with disabilities and people living with AIDS. The Department also promotes economic and community development, and enforces the nation's fair housing laws. More information about HUD and its programs is available on the Internet
and espanol.hud.gov. For more information about FHA products, please visit www.fha.gov.
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Illinois recipients include:
Grantee |
Program * |
Amount |
Cook County |
HHD |
$760,259 |
The Cook County Department of Health will receive $760,259 to address multiple housing-related childhood illnesses and injuries through education, interventions and remediations in the Harvey, Riverdale and Robbins municipalities located in south suburban Cook County. The Health Department has established partnership with organizations such as the American Lung Association of Metropolitan Chicago, the University of Illinois at Chicago and many other local agencies. Contact: LaTrice Porter-Thomas, Environmental Quality Manager (708) 492-2042. |
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County of Peoria |
LHC |
$3,000,000 |
The County of Peoria will be awarded $3,000,000 in federal funds to provide lead hazard mitigation services to 240 residential units. Through the grant funds thee program will reach an estimated 600 children. The program will educate parent and children on the dangers of lead based paint hazards and how to prevent the exposure. Contact: Gene Huber, Director of Financial Services (309) 679-6101. | ||
Madison County |
LHC |
$3,000,000 |
Madison County will be awarded $3,000,000 in federal funds to produce 240 lead-safe units. The Madison County Community Development (MCCD) will partner with Madison County Health Department and the Madison County Housing Authority. The funding will act as a catalyst to speed up the growing community commitment to prevent lead poisoning in Madison County children. Contact: Cheryl Jouett, Administrator (618) 692-8940. |
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St. Clair County |
LHC |
$2,116,478 |
St. Clair County will be awarded $2,116,478 in federal funds to provide lead remediation activities to 180 units. St. Clair County will integrate lead hazard control with weatherization and rehabilitation activities. The County will also integrate lead hazard control activities with community education and medical treatment for children with elevated blood lead levels. Contact: Kenneth Hise, Division Manager 618 277-6790. |
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University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign |
LTS |
$369,114 |
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in Champaign will be awarded $369,114 in federal funds to develop a new class of colorimetric spot test kits for lead in household paint, and build on recently developed technology. The plan is to 1) find the appropriate DNAzyme reagent material to put into a chemically sensitive strip; 2) develop a spot test kit to use with the chemically sensitive strip; and 3) refine the system to make it cost-effective and easy to use. This will result in a more accurate lead-paint testing method that can be used on site and is rapid and cost-effective, thereby reducing the need for laboratory analysis. In addition, this type of kit is of interest to the Environmental Protection Agency for use by remodeling, rehabilitation, and painting contractors who need to be aware of the presence of lead-based paint in areas where they will be working. Contact: Stephen Rugg, Comptroller (217) 333-1560. |
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University of Illinois at Chicago |
LTS |
$848,500 |
University of Illinois at Chicago will be awarded $848,500 in federal funds to characterize lead dust emissions from scattered site single-family housing demolition and evaluate means to control these emissions. The goals are to 1) measure the dust fall and the particle size distribution created during demolition of old homes; 2) compare this with a large-scale Baltimore multi-family housing development demolition that uses various dust suppression techniques; and 3) determine recommendations for local government consideration. This project will help professionals identify practical ways to reduce/eliminate lead dust dispersion from demolition of older housing. Contact: Dr. Eric A. Gislason Ph.D. Vice Chancellor for Research (312) 996-4993.
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* LHC - Lead Based Paint Hazard Control Grant Program
HHD - Healthy Homes Demonstration Grant Program
HHTS - Healthy Homes Technical Studies Grant Program
LTS - Lead Technical Studies Grant Program
LEAP - Operation Lead Elimination Action Grant Program
LOR - Lead Outreach Grant Program
LHRD - Lead Based Paint Hazard Reduction Demonstration Grant Program
NOTE: A state-by-state breakdown of the funding announced today and complete individual project summaries
are available on HUD's website.
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