Baltimore Loses Federal Lead-Paint Funding

Unable to fix up enough homes, city ruled ineligible for new grant

Baltimore, where thousands of buildings contain lead-based paint that can poison young children, has lost federal funding for abatement programs due to mismanagement of its most recent grant, officials said Monday.

Department of Housing and Urban Development officials told The Baltimore Sun that the city health department failed to fix up enough homes under the latest $4 million grant, which expired in January, and as a result the city was deemed a "high-risk" grantee ineligible to receive more funds.

HUD officials also said they are investigating the way the city managed its last grant, including "administrative" issues, and seeking documentation showing that all the money was spent appropriately. Several homes the city had paid to replace windows did not have lead paint on them, according to a December HUD monitoring report. Also, the report said, the city failed to document that all the homes treated had housed families poor enough to qualify for aid or that children under 6 lived or visited there.
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