The city of Boston has received a $4.3 million federal grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to reduce the risk of childhood lead poisoning. Boston has many homes built prior to 1978 when lead paint was banned, and the grant money will help the city address lead hazards present in such homes, Patch reports.
The $4.3 million awarded to Boston's "Lead Safe" program will address lead hazards in more than 300 housing units, providing safer homes for families with low incomes. Grant funds will be used to work with homeowners and landlords with income-eligible tenants to make homes lead safe by providing fully forgivable loans to complete the work. Some of the funding will also be used for identifying and remediating multiple housing-related health and safety hazards that are not lead-based paint hazards as part of a comprehensive approach.
These grants are provided through HUD's Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes to identify and clean up dangerous lead in privately-owned low-income housing. The funding is part of a $319 million competitive HUD funding round which was awarded to 77 city, county and state governments. The new funds will protect families by targeting low-income homes with significant lead and/or other home health and safety hazards.
According to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, the percentage of screened children with elevated blood lead levels in Boston has declined 98% since 1992. However, even low levels of lead in blood have been shown to affect IQ, attention, and academic achievement in children. It is imperative that parents of small children have annual checkups scheduled where the children's blood is tested.
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