Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes

By Matthew Ammon, Director of the Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes

October 18, 2022

The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes (OLHCHH) has a mission: help all Americans, especially children and other vulnerable populations in low-income households, reach their full potential by making the homes they live in safe and healthy. HUD’s Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes programs are unique in that their intended purpose is to improve health outcomes by focusing on improving housing conditions. By focusing resources to mitigate the impacts of unhealthy housing, we can preserve the limited inventory of housing and ensure the health of at-risk residents. By having programs and policies that address poor housing quality, inequities, and issues of environmental justice, we can ensure that future generations can reach their full potential. Improving housing quality is critical to preserving affordable housing and ensuring a healthy and safe supply of housing for low-income families.

Our office’s lead hazard control programs help decrease childhood lead exposure by working with state and local governments and other partners to identify and mitigate lead-based paint hazards in low-income housing. The grants are targeted toward housing that is privately-owned (owner-occupied or rental) where income-eligible occupants reside with children. The focus of the programs is creating lead-safe units for low-income households.

We know there is a direct link between housing quality and its impact on health. Many human health problems are related, either directly or indirectly, to buildings, and HUD’s programs help to break the link between poor housing quality and associated health problems. By improving the quality of housing, we prevent injuries and diseases, lower healthcare costs, increase school and work performance, and increase income and opportunity. As we fix unhealthy homes, we not only improve the health of children and residents, but we also improve the health of neighborhoods and increase the supply of safe, affordable homes, improving the overall quality of life.

We know that we cannot do this work alone-partnerships are critical to helping families and children, wherever they live. We work with local health and housing departments, community-based organizations, non-profit organizations, philanthropies, and many other groups across the country to mitigate health and safety hazards in low-income housing, protecting over 400,000 at-risk young children. HUD’s programs have contributed substantially to reducing elevated blood lead level (EBLL) cases among children under age 6 nationwide. We have expanded our efforts to build public-private partnerships to bring more investments to fix older housing and preserve affordable housing in communities.

We have listened to what communities need—more flexible and effective ways to address housing related health hazards. In response, HUD has created programs that allow for assessments and mitigation of housing-related health and safety hazards. This work can be done in a coordinated, holistic manner, rather than addressing single hazards one-by-one, by not just focusing on lead, or just mold, or just pests. This holistic approach has allowed for more cost-effective improvements, resulting in greater health benefits at a lower cost. This work has proven cost benefits. In fact, each dollar invested in lead paint hazard control results in a return of at least $17, for a net savings of at least $181 billion, including medical, education, workforce, and more, since the OLHCHH program began in 1993. Ensuring communities have access to safe, quality, and affordable homes is also a cost-effective component of increasing housing supply.

But our work is not done, there are still too many homes with lead-based paint hazards and too many kids exposed to these dangers. At HUD, we have taken historic action to promote lead-safe, healthy housing through funding and resources over the last year. We have record amounts of funding available to:

• Assess and remediate lead-based paint and other housing-related health hazards
• Make safety and functional home modifications and repairs to meet the needs of low-income older adult homeowners to help them age in place
• Develop new and improved methods to identify and control residential health hazards
• Mitigate health and safety hazards and improve energy efficiency and comfort

These commitments are just the start. We will continue to prioritize health and safety in communities across our nation. We hope you join us in these efforts.