HUD Awards $3.7 Million to Protect Roanoke Residents From Lead, Other Home Health and Safety Hazards

Roanoke, Virginia – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Mid-Atlantic Region has released the following information:

On Sept. 25, U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Joseph J. DeFelice announced that $3,718,733 has been awarded to the City of Roanoke, Virginia to protect children and families from lead-based paint and home health hazards. The funding is part of nearly $165 million awarded nationwide to 44 state and local government agencies in 23 states.

HUD is providing these grants through its Lead Based Paint Hazard Reduction (LBPHR) Grant Program to identify and clean up dangerous lead in low-income families’ homes. These grants also include more than $17 million from HUD’s Healthy Homes Supplemental funding to help communities with housing-related health and safety hazards in addition to lead-based paint hazards. These investments will protect families and children by targeting significant lead and health hazards in over 14,000 low-income homes for which other resources are not available.

The City of Roanoke will receive $3,354,983 in Lead Based Paint Hazard Reduction grant program funding. The City, along with other medical and social service providers, will address lead hazards in 140 housing units providing safer homes for low and very low-income families with children.  The City will receive an additional $363,750 in Healthy Homes Supplemental funding.

“Through today’s funding, HUD makes it clear that providing healthy and safe homes in our communities is a priority,” said DeFelice. “I have seen firsthand the great work Lead Safe Roanoke is doing to eliminate dangerous lead hazards from lower income homes, stimulate private sector investment in lead hazard control and educate the public about the dangers of lead-based paint.”

HUD’s Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes promotes local efforts to eliminate dangerous lead paint and other housing-related health hazards from lower income homes; stimulates private sector investment in lead hazard control; supports cutting-edge research on methods for assessing and controlling housing-related health and safety hazards; and educates the public about the dangers of hazards in the home.

“There is a strong connection between health and housing,” said Michelle Miller, Acting Director of HUD’s Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes. “These grants provide a critical resource to communities to identify and clean up housing-based health hazards such as from lead-based paint and mold.”

If you have questions about the City’s Lead Safe Roanoke Program, please contact Katie Kennedy, Program Manager, at 540-853-5682 or send an email to katie.kennedy@roanokeva.gov.