MANCHESTER, NH – More than 500 housing units across New Hampshire will be made safer and healthier over the next two years after New Hampshire was awarded $19.8 million in federal money to mitigate lead paint and other safety hazards.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded NH Housing, the city of Nashua, and Sullivan County a combined $19.8 million in Lead Paint Hazard Reduction grants and Healthy Homes supplemental funding. The awards are part of $420 million for 32 states announced by HUD in October, and the largest awards under the department’s Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control, according to HUD.
The money is aimed at supporting lead hazard control in older housing, particularly where there are occupants 6 years old and younger, who are at greatest risk of lead poisoning. This type of housing “has historically included children in low-income and minority neighborhoods, to reduce the likelihood of elevated blood lead levels in these children,” HUD said in a news release.
The three recipient organizations are gearing up to use the money to clear at least 532 residential units of lead paint hazards.
Grant awards are:
- New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority – $7.75 million
- City of Nashua – $7.7 million
- Sullivan County – $4 million
The money will help recipients “eliminate housing-related health and safety hazards for families with lower incomes, support cutting-edge research on assessing and controlling these hazards and educate the public about the dangers of hazards in the home,” HUD said.
Lead is a toxic metal that can cause developmental delays in children and, at worst, is fatal. Lead paint was commonly used before it was banned for residential use in 1978, but homes built before that may still have it, endangering children when it peels and chips or gets wet. Housing built before 1960 is more likely than that built after then to have lead paint, and lead paint was used in almost all housing built before 1940.
“New Hampshire homes are among the oldest in the country, leading to hundreds of New Hampshire children poisoned each year by lead found in paint, dust, and soil,” NH Housing said.
Across the U.S., 70% of childhood lead exposure is from lead paint in housing.
In 2022, the most recent data available, 816 children in New Hampshire were found to have elevated blood lead levels and an estimated 32,350 children under six were living in pre-1978 housing. Only 77% of children in New Hampshire ages 12-23 months, and 57% ages 24-35 months were tested for lead exposure that year. The latest round of federal money is timely – a 2018 state law (RSA 130-A:5-d) went into effect July 1 requiring that new residential rental units in pre-1978 buildings be certified lead-free, as well as new daycare centers in pre-1978 buildings.
NH Housing
NH Housing aims to clear 232 units of lead paint and other safety hazards in the next 48 months with help from the federal grant. Rental property owners and single-family home owners who have a child under 6 living in the home may be eligible for grants of up to $12,000 per unit to mitigate lead pain as well as up to $3,000 in Healthy Homes supplemental funding from NH Housing to take care of other health and safety issues. Those who don’t receive the grant may qualify for a loan from the program.
Priority is for those who are most in need, including low-income families and owners not financially capable of making their properties lead-safe on their own. Top priority is for homes were a child under 6 shows elevated blood lead levels, where young children live or visit, or where a pregnant woman resides.
NH Housing lists requirements and other information on its website. Those looking for multi-family or single-family homes that have been cleared under NH Housing’s program can view them on the New Hampshire Lead-Safe Housing Registry. The link does not include units in Nashua, and is only partial for Manchester, which has its own list.
Nashua Lead Paint & Healthy Homes Program
In Nashua, the funding will be used to continue efforts to increase the number of lead-safe housing units – $7 million is for lead paint mitigation and $700,000 is Healthy Homes supplemental funds.
“This $7.7 million award is a tremendous investment in the health and safety of Nashua’s most vulnerable residents,” Matt Sullivan, director of Community Development, said when the award was announced. “By addressing lead hazards in these homes, we are taking a crucial step toward reducing the risk of lead poisoning and ensuring that children grow up in a safe environment.”
The city received $5.7 million from the program in 2020, and has cleared more than 1,000 units since 2008, according to its program website.
The latest grant aims to address lead-based paint and other hazards in more than 200 housing units. Grants of up to $20,000 per qualified unit are available are available to mitigate lead hazards, and another $3,500 per unit is available for health or safety hazards. The money covers the cost of all inspections and clearance certifications, according to the city’s Urban Programs department. The department’s staff oversees the remediation process, which includes drafting the scope of work, putting the project out to bid, ensuring all technical requirements are met, helping with temporary tenant relocation, and paying contractors.
The city is collaborating with medical professionals, social service providers, and local organizations to identify and remediate dangerous lead hazards in older housing units as part of its Lead Paint & Healthy Homes Program, part of a broader initiative “to ensure that families in Nashua, especially those with young children, can live in safe, healthy environments,” according to the program’s website.
Sullivan County’s second grant
Sullivan County, in western New Hampshire, hopes to clear 100 privately owned and owner-occupied residential units with the $4 million HUD lead prevention grant. The county 2020 was awarded $1,703,524, $400,000 of which was Health Homes supplemental funding. It used the grant to eliminate lead-based paint hazards in 66 units, and inspect a total of 85 over 42 months.
The most recent grant will fund a program manager, contract with a certified lead inspection and risk assessor, “and hit the ground running to help families currently on our waiting list, who have been waiting patiently to hear this good news,” said County Manager Derek Ferland in a news release.
More than 80% of the homes in the county were built before 1978, Ferland said.
The county lists requirements for application and other information on its program webpage. It also provides a list of property in the county that have been cleared of lead hazards through the program.
HUD lead hazards programs
Specifically, the HUD lead hazard grant money covers six areas, some of which are separate programs under the funding umbrella:
- Targeting lead hazard control efforts in housing units where children less than 6 years of age are at greatest risk of lead poisoning (pre-1960, and, especially, pre-1940 construction).
- Using cost-effective lead hazard control methods and approaches that ensure long-term safety of the building occupants.
- Building local capacity of trained and certified individuals and firms to address lead hazards safely and effectively during lead hazard control, and renovation, remodeling, and maintenance activities. Also, developing comprehensive, community-based approaches to integrating the grant program within other local initiatives through public and private partnerships that address housing- related health and safety hazards and/or serve low-income families with children under six.
- Establishing and implementing a detailed process of monitoring and ensuring that units made lead-safe are affirmatively marketed, with priority given to families with children under six for at leat three years.
- Gathering pre- and post-treatment data that support and validate lead hazard control investments to support the evaluation of grant program activities and outcomes.
- Conducting targeted outreach, affirmative marketing, education or outreach programs on lead hazard control and lead poisoning prevention designed to increase the ability of applicants to deliver the specified lead hazard control services through the program.