Congressman Cleaver Announces Fund to Fight Lead Poisoning
The Kansas City Missouri Health Department received $2,480,000 in U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funding. HUD awarded a total of $110.8 million in grants to 43 local projects, including in Kansas City, Missouri, to conduct a wide range of activities intended to protect children and families from potentially dangerous lead-based paint and other home health and safety hazards.
"Lead-based paint may have been banned long before most of today's children were born, but millions of homes around the country still have alarming amounts of lead-based paint hazards," said Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, II. "Lead can lead to a host of health problems in young children, damaging their minds, their health, and their well-being. The children of Missouri's Fifth District deserve better, and the Kansas City Missouri Health Department will use this money to make that possible."
Through these grant programs, HUD's Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control promotes local efforts to eliminate dangerous lead hazards from lower income homes; stimulates private sector investment in lead hazard control; and educates the public about the dangers of lead-based paint. A complete project-by-project summary of the programs awarded grants today can be found on HUD's website.
More Information on Lead Hazard Control Grant Programs
Even though lead-based paint was banned for residential use 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.
The funding announced today directs critical funds to cities, counties and states to eliminate dangerous lead paint hazards in thousands of privately-owned, low-income housing units. These funds are provided through HUD's Lead-Based Paint Hazard Control and Lead Hazard Reduction Demonstration grant programs. To expand the reach of HUD's Lead Hazard Control Program. HUD is also providing over $5.3 million to help communities transform their lead hazard control programs to address multiple housing-related hazards.
Emanuel Cleaver, II is the U.S. Representative for Missouri's Fifth Congressional District, which includes Kansas City, Independence, Lee's Summit, Raytown, Grandview, Sugar Creek, Belton, Raymore and Peculiar, Missouri. He is a member of the exclusive House Financial Services Committee. Congressman Cleaver also serves as a Senior Whip of the Democratic Caucus and Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus.