The City of Woonsocket has been awarded a $2.8 million federal grant to help it identify and remediate lead-based paint hazards in privately owned rental housing occupied by low-income people. Twelve such grants, totaling $31 million, were given out nationwide.
Woonsocket has the second-highest lead poisoning rate in Rhode Island, with 2.5 percent of children tested in 2005 (38 children) newly diagnosed with lead poisoning.
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Only Providence has a worse problem, with 4.5 percent of children tested in 2005 newly diagnosed with lead poisoning. In wealthier towns with newer housing, the incidence is minimal – with, for example, only one child diagnosed in Smithfield in 2005.
Like Rhode Island as a whole, Woonsocket has seen big improvements in the last decade, as a result of a major effort by the state to combat lead poisoning through screenings, public outreach and tough legislation.
While in 1996, 21.8 percent of children younger than 6 in Woonsocket were known to be lead-poisoned, R.I. Department of Health figures show that by 2005, the number was down to 3.4 percent. Statewide, the figures are 17.7 percent of youngsters in 1996 and 3.0 percent in 2005.
Still, much of Woonsocket’s housing remains potentially hazardous to children, according to Paulette Miller, deputy director of housing and community development for the city.
A study conducted by Brown University last October for the state’s Lead Advisory Commission found that 74.3 percent of housing in Woonsocket was built before 1950, and 74.3 percent of the city’s population lives below the poverty threshold.
The combination of old housing and a low-income population made Woonsocket a prime candidate for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Lead Hazard Reduction Demonstration grant.
To qualify, a community must have at least 3,500 occupied, privately owned, rental housing units built before 1940. Along with Woonsocket, the communities awarded grants this month are San Francisco; Winnebago County, Ill.; Detroit and Lansing, Mich.; Manchester, N.H.; Albany, Buffalo and Schenectady, N.Y.; Austin, Texas; and Milwaukee.
In Woonsocket, Miller said, “lead poisoning is a serious issue because of the age of the housing. This [grant] was an opportunity that became available. … We just put together an application that worked.”
She said Woonsocket plans to use the $ 2,816,074 grant to make 225 housing units “lead-safe” within a three-year period. (That’s not the same as lead-free; in lead-safe housing, lead paint may be safely covered up instead of being fully removed.)
Making an apartment lead-safe can cost as little as $1,000 or as much as $40,000, Miller said. “Some houses might just need a few new windows,” she said. “Others might need new cabinetry, ceilings and baseboards.”
Woonsocket will not spend more than $10,000 per unit, as determined by HUD. If it spent the full amount on each unit the abatement of lead paint hazards in 225 units would cost $2.25 million. That would leave $550,000 for administration and educational outreach, Miller said.
HUD also determined that no more than 10 percent of the grant, or $280,000, could be used for administration. That leaves about $270,000 for educational outreach.
Miller said that if it costs more than $10,000 to make some units lead-safe, the city will find other ways to cover the cost. And if some projects cost less than $10,000, the city will be able to make more than 225 units lead-safe.
As each unit is completed, she said, grant funds also will be used to pay for an inspection by a state-certified inspector.
Woonsocket made education a component of the program because “we don’t want to give a false sense of security,” Miller said. “A house can be lead-safe one day and not lead-safe the next day,” because damage may expose lead paint again.
The long-term challenge, she said, will be finding ways to reach out to big construction companies and small-to-medium-sized contractors.
“There’s difficulty, across the state, in getting contractors to do lead remediation,” Miller said. “There are a lot of construction companies who may not have looked at this as an opportunity for revenue enhancement. … The time has come for contractors to look at this as a way to diversify their services to municipalities, the state and the general public.”
