RISMEDIA, March 4, 2011—The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is awarding $7.8 million in grants to 14 local projects in nine states to conduct a wide range of activities such as research on the cost effectiveness of home-based interventions for children with asthma and novel strategies for reducing risks from lead-contaminated soil and house dust. For the first time, HUD is awarding $2 million of those grants to improve indoor environmental conditions and links to education and medical services for asthmatic children and other residents living in public and assisted multifamily housing.
Lead is a known toxin that can impair children’s development and have effects lasting into adulthood. It’s estimated that asthma alone costs the U.S. economy approximately $3.5 billion each year. Approximately 16.4 million Americans currently have asthma, including nearly seven million children 18 years of age and younger.
“Homes with lead or other health hazards can injure children and worsen conditions such as asthma and HUD wants to ensure that children have a healthy place to call home,” said Jon Gant, Director of HUD’s Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control. “These grants will not only help to clean up lead and other home health hazards but will support the development of innovative new approaches to improve and control asthma in children.”
The following is a breakdown of the funding:
Grant program and funding amount
-Healthy Homes Technical Studies Grants – $4,000,000
-Lead Technical Studies Grants – $1,795,831
-Asthma Interventions in Public and Assisted Multifamily Housing Grants – $ 2,060,986
Through these three programs, HUD’s Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control supports research to eliminate dangerous lead and other key housing-related hazards from lower income homes, improves our knowledge of the benefits of green construction and maintenance practices for low income housing and stimulates the implementation and evaluation of housing management practices to improve the health of asthmatic children and the quality of life of their caregivers.
The funds are provided through HUD’s, Healthy Homes Technical Studies, Lead Technical Studies and Asthma Interventions in Public and Assisted Multifamily Housing grant programs.
Even though lead-based paint was banned for use in the home in 1978, HUD estimates that approximately 24 million homes still have significant lead-based paint hazards today. Lead-contaminated dust is the primary cause of lead exposure and can lead to a variety of health problems in young children, including reduced IQ, learning disabilities, developmental delays, reduced height and impaired hearing. At higher levels, lead can damage a child’s kidneys and central nervous system and cause anemia, coma, convulsions and even death. However, lead is not the only danger threatening families and children in the home. Asthma is now recognized as a leading cause of school and work absences, emergency room visits and hospitalizations that disproportionately impacts low income, minority populations.
