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HUD AWARDS NEARLY $8 MILLION FOR ASTHMA INTERVENTION AND TO PROTECT THOUSANDS OF CHILDREN FROM HEALTH HAZARDS IN THEIR HOMES

Funding helps to make low-income housing safer and healthier

WASHINGTON, DC – March 2, 2011 – (RealEstateRama) — The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development today 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 (see attached). 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 7 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 announced today:

Grant Program

Funding Awarded
 

 

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

TOTAL 

$7,856,817

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 announced today 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.

The following is a state-by-state breakdown of the funding announced today:

State Grantee Program* Amount
Illinois University of Illinois-Chicago HHTS $896,967
  University of Illinois-Chicago LTS $499,999
  Sinai Health System AIPAMH $549,000
Louisiana Tulane University HHTS $942,465
Massachusetts  Massachusetts Dept. of Public Health HHTS $949,071
  Harvard College  HHTS $942,788
  Univ. of Massachusetts, Lowell  AIPAMH $424,986
Minnesota American Lung Association of the Upper Midwest   AIPAMH $538,000
New Jersey SIROM Scientific Solutions, LLC LTS $499,694
New York The New York Academy of Medicine AIPAMH $549,000
Ohio University of Cincinnati  HHTS  $268,709
Rhode Island The Providence Plan LTS $298,000
Texas  The University of Texas at Arlington LTS $498,138

Grant program abbreviations are as follows:

AIPAMH – Asthma Interventions in Public and Assisted Multifamily Housing
HHTS – Healthy Homes Technical Studies
LTS – Lead Technical Studies

Read complete individual summaries on HUD’s website.

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HUD’s mission is to create strong, sustainable, inclusive communities and quality affordable homes for all. HUD is working to strengthen the housing market to bolster the economy and protect consumers; meet the need for quality affordable rental homes: utilize housing as a platform for improving quality of life; build inclusive and sustainable communities free from discrimination; and transform the way HUD does business. More information about HUD and its programs is available on the Internet at www.hud.gov and espanol.hud.gov.

Contact:
Shanate Goodloe
(202) 708-0685