The U.S. Housing and Urban Development agency is proposing lowering its threshold for childhood lead poisoning to match recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
That would help the agency address problem properties earlier.
HUD Secretary Julian Castro toured a home in Providence’s Mount Pleasant neighborhood to see for himself the work his agency has funded. The multi-family home needed more than $30-thousand dollars’ worth of work to clean up the lead paint and other hazards that threatened the health of children inside. Now, HUD may be able to intervene to help clean up a house if a child’s blood lead level is just 5 micrograms per deciliter, instead of 20, says Castro.
“We certainly do want to ensure, particularly in HUD-assisted and public housing, number one, we’re more proactive in trying to identify where issues exist,” says Castro. “Secondly, where we find that a child has an elevated blood lead level, that we’re able to step in more aggressively to make sure that that child is taken care of.”
HUD has funneled more than $3.5 million dollars to Rhode Island in the past year to help clean up lead-contaminated homes. Thousands have been identified as needing work.
Changing the threshold means that HUD could intervene when a child six or younger is exposed to lead in public housing. Rhode Island housing authorities are also able to direct funds to help homeowners clean up when they can’t afford it.
Children exposed to lead paint and other hazards, and who develop elevated blood lead levels, are at risk for multiple problems in later life, including cognitive deficits.
