Three northeast Ohio counties are among twenty-three locations around the U.S. chosen to be part of a $53-million-dollar, federal lead-paint cleanup program. Erie, Mahoning and Summit counties will get s$7.5 million over three years. The money is to help with the decontamination of a total of 305 currently-occupied, old houses.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development initiative is the latest round of a decades-long national effort to get rid of the toxic paint additive.
Erie County Health Commissioner Peter Schade says continuing the clean-up in lake-shore communities is especially important because the resort-based employment there means old houses tend to stay in active use, by active families.
“With that older housing stock we’ve had a problem with lead-based paint. And on top of that, we have a sixty-two-to-sixty-five percent tenant’s occupancy rate. So, a lot of older homes, with a lot of people who rent, have kinds, as you could image.”
Children exposed to lead contamination have been shown to suffer neurological damage, among other health problems. The latest HUD grants are for three years.
The sale of lead-based paint was banned in the United States in 1978.
