| Carrie S. Schmidt (804) 822-4807 |
For
Release Tuesday September 20, 2011 |
HUD AWARDS $673,100 IN GRANTS TO REDUCE HEALTH AND SAFETY HAZARDS IN VIRGINIA HOMES
Funding will remove or reduce health and safety hazards in homes
RICHMOND - The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development today awarded $1.5 million in grants to
children and families living in Maryland from health and safety hazards in their homes. The grants will support efforts to control asthma and allergy triggers such as mold, moisture, mitigate safety hazards in homes, and improve energy efficiency. Grants will also support research to advance methods for hazard reduction.
The grant funding announced today is part of $18 million HUD is awarding nationwide to clean up health hazards in thousands of homes, train workers, and increase public awareness about reducing and preventing health hazards in their homes.
"HUD is committed to providing healthy and safe homes as part of our mission to help make the nation's housing more healthy and sustainable," said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan. "These grants will help communities to protect families and children from significant health and safety hazards."
Eastern Virginia Medical School will be awarded $425,000 in Asthma Interventions in Public and Assisted Multifamily Housing Grant funds. The project targets low-income families with children under the age of 18 in within 3 zip codes. The primary goals of the Norfolk HEADWAY are to decrease children's exposure to (1) dust and dust mites, (2) mold and moisture intrusion, (3) insect (cockroaches) and rodent infestations, and (4) combustion products of heating and cooking appliances. The program objectives are to: (a) coordinate efforts to improve asthma control in the targeted housing communities by partnering with Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority (b) involve low-income and minority populations in program activities; (c) ensure that the Norfolk HEADWAY is integrated into a much larger, collaborative, community-based and capacity building approach that involves organizations, stakeholders and opinion leaders; and (d) develop and implement a pragmatic evaluation plan that reflects the level of asthma control and indoor environmental hazards in the target population. For more information, contact: Ms. Annemarie Delgado,
Director of Sponsored Programs, (757) 446-6026.
QuanTech, Inc., will be awarded $248,100 in Lead Technical Studies Grant funds. The grantee plans to study a
novel approach to solving the problem of using spot test kits for the determination of lead in paint. Current spot test kits that may be used for the EPA RRP Rule are effective for determining the absence of LBP, but not the presence of LBP at 1 mg/cm2 or 0.5% by weight. The solution is a field-practical method of controlling the amount of lead in the paint that gets exposed to chemicals in the spot test kits, which can successfully shift the positive response of a
test kit to the lead level defined as LBP. The grantee will conduct the experiments needed to further develop this novel approach and demonstrate that it can meet the criterion of false positive and false negative rates. For more information, contact: David Cox, President, (703) 312-7808.
"This grant will protect our most precious resource, our children and future generations, from the potential of lead poisoning and other hazards," said HUD Regional Administrator Jane C.W. Vincent. "HUD is committed to making housing safe for citizens and this $673,000 investment delivers on HUD's mission to preserving their health and ultimately, their quality of life."
The funding announced today will go to cities, counties, states and universities to eliminate dangerous health and other safety hazards in thousands of privately-owned, low-income housing units. These funds are provided through HUD's Healthy Homes Production, (HHP) Lead and Healthy Homes Technical Studies (LTS, HHTS), and Asthma Interventions in Public and Assisted Multifamily Housing (AIPAMH) grant programs.
###
![[logo: Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity]](/images/fheo50.gif){kind=small}
