The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded around $8.4 million to seven universities and two research institute to improve HUD's and the public's knowledge of housing-related health and safety hazards. One of the key initiatives for the research entities will be the development of new methods for identifying and mitigating lead-based-paint hazards.
"As a doctor for many years, I witnessed how lead and other hazards can impact young children," HUD secretary Ben Carson said in a public statement. "You can’t be healthy if your home is sick and these grants will improve our knowledge about how to improve living conditions inside our homes."
HUD's Lead and Healthy Homes Technical Studies Program, through which the grants have been awarded, supports the development of new scientific techniques to access and control home-related health risks. One of the overall goals of the program is to gain knowledge to improve the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of methods for evaluation and control of residential lead-based-paint hazards.
The grants have been awarded to the University of Illinois, QuanTech in Maryland, Boston University, the George Washington University, the Illinois Institute of Technology, the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, the National Center for Health Housing in Maryland, North Carolina State University, and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
In addition to providing the research grants, HUD recently awarded $314 million to 77 local government agencies to protect children and families from lead-based-paint and home health hazards and $5 million to identify and address home health and safety hazards to six tribal communities.
