City of Knoxville Receives First Lead Hazard Control Grant Totaling $2.5 Million
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Left to right - Sharon Yarbrough, program participant; Mayor Madeline Rogero; Todd Kennedy, Community Development; Jonnette Simmons, Healthy Homes Representative for HUD in Atlanta; Becky Wade, Director of Community Development; and Ed Ellis, Knoxville Field Office Director for HUD

Community leaders, grant partners and City of Knoxville (www.cityofknoxville.org/) Mayor Madeline Rogero (www.cityofknoxville.org/mayor/bio.asp) and city staff participated in the announcement of the City of Knoxville's first Lead Hazard Control grant for $2.5 million.

The City of Knoxville was awarded $2,300,000 in Lead-Based Paint Hazard Control grant program funding and an additional $200,000 in Healthy Homes Initiative funding. The City of Knoxville will address lead hazards in 250 housing units providing safer homes for low and very low-income families with children. The City of Knoxville will also perform healthy homes assessments in 100 units and will collaborate with the Knoxville-Knox County Community Action Committee.

"Even though the use of lead-based paint was banned more than 30 years ago, there are still homes that have significant amounts of this hazardous paint," said Mayor Rogero. "This grant will help us to make those homes safe and healthy. We are grateful to HUD for this funding."

"At HUD, we've recognized that housing serves as a platform to improve health. If you want to improve health you must improve housing too," said Ed Ellis, HUD's Knoxville Field Office Director. "The children of Knoxville deserve the best possible home environment to grow up in, and this lead grant will help make that possible."

Partner organizations involved in this effort to bring an end to Childhood Lead Poisoning through primary prevention and improve health in housing for innumerable City of Knoxville and Tennessee residents include: Knox County Public Health, Knoxville-Knox County Head Start/Early Head Start, The Office On Aging, Knox Housing Partnership, East Tennessee Foundation, and Knoxville Community Development Corporation Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Office along with support from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Building Technologies Research and Integration Center.

Learn more about Lead Hazard Control Grant Program on HUD's website.

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