Federal Funding Crisis

COHHIO reports that the House Version of the biennial budget completely eliminates the Lead Safe Ohio Fund of $14.8 million over the biennium and reduces general lead abatement dollars). Keep in mind that the Ohio Senate has yet to accept the House version of the budget and the Governor could veto the changes that the House made to one of his signature programs. 

The President's budget proposal would convert all housing funding (including lead hazard control grants) into a single block grant to each state and the total costs to the Feds would be 50% reduction over current spending levels. \

May 3, 2025. Vindy.com. Cuts threaten lead removal programs in the Valley "Mahoning County continues to spend its state and federal funds to reduce lead hazards, but funding reductions in Washington and Columbus could make it more in the near future. Mahoning County commissioners regularly have approved items placed on the agenda by Phil Puryear, head of the county’s Department of Lead Hazard Control. In just the past month, the board has approved 16 projects across the county, totaling roughly $430,000, for remediation of lead-based hazards. The work is funded through a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Lead Hazard Reduction Grant and Healthy Homes supplemental funding. 'The incidence of lead poisoning is high here,” Puryear said. “These are competitive grants based on need and the ability to spend the money, and fortunately we’ve been granted a lot of money to remediate these lead-based paint hazards.' The county received the four-year, $5.7 million award in 2022, and it will expire at the end of 2026. The grant required at least $500,000 in local matching funds and Puryear said the application ultimately included nearly $700,000, including $500,000 from the City of Youngstown in the form of Community Development Block Grant dollars, and $160,000 from the county. Puryear said landlords who benefit from the program also pay into it, which counts as matching funds.

May 3, 2025. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Federal HHS cuts worry experts on childhood lead poisoning 'We're at risk in Pa.' 

COHHIO reports that the House Version of the biennial budget completely eliminates the Lead Safe Ohio Fund of $14.8 million over the biennium and reduces general lead abatement dollars). Keep in mind that the Ohio Senate has yet to accept the House version of the budget and the Governor could veto the changes that the House made to one of his signature programs. The President's budget proposal would convert all housing funding (including lead hazard control grants) into a single block grant to each state and the total costs to the Feds would be 50% reduction over current spending levels. 

May 3, 2025. Vindy.com. Cuts threaten lead removal programs in the Valley "Mahoning County continues to spend its state and federal funds to reduce lead hazards, but funding reductions in Washington and Columbus could make it more in the near future. Mahoning County commissioners regularly have approved items placed on the agenda by Phil Puryear, head of the county’s Department of Lead Hazard Control. In just the past month, the board has approved 16 projects across the county, totaling roughly $430,000, for remediation of lead-based hazards. The work is funded through a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Lead Hazard Reduction Grant and Healthy Homes supplemental funding. 'The incidence of lead poisoning is high here,” Puryear said. “These are competitive grants based on need and the ability to spend the money, and fortunately we’ve been granted a lot of money to remediate these lead-based paint hazards.' The county received the four-year, $5.7 million award in 2022, and it will expire at the end of 2026. The grant required at least $500,000 in local matching funds and Puryear said the application ultimately included nearly $700,000, including $500,000 from the City of Youngstown in the form of Community Development Block Grant dollars, and $160,000 from the county. Puryear said landlords who benefit from the program also pay into it, which counts as matching funds.

May 3, 2025. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Federal HHS cuts worry experts on childhood lead poisoning 'We're at risk in Pa.' "Public health advocates are concerned about the effect of federal budget cuts and layoffs on efforts to prevent childhood lead poisoning in Pennsylvania. 'We’re at risk in Pennsylvania,' said Rosemarie Halt, chair of the Lead Free Promise Project of Pennsylvania. 'Having this funding interrupted will interrupt a lot of really good programs.' "These changes reinforce Mayor Bibb's message that Washington is not coming to save us. Spectrum News Cincinnati links Cleveland and Milwaukee stories. Local health officials discuss impact of federal cuts on lead exposure efforts. New Jersey protests Federal cuts. Protest against cuts to funding for lead remediation.Public health advocates are concerned about the effect of federal budget cuts and layoffs on efforts to prevent childhood lead poisoning in Pennsylvania. 'We’re at risk in Pennsylvania,' said Rosemarie Halt, chair of the Lead Free Promise Project of Pennsylvania. 'Having this funding interrupted will interrupt a lot of really good programs.' "

These changes reinforce Mayor Bibb's message that Washington is not coming to save us. Spectrum News Cincinnati links Cleveland and Milwaukee stories. Local health officials discuss impact of federal cuts on lead exposure efforts. NewJersey protests Federal cuts. Protest against cuts to funding for lead remediation

April 3, 2025 CNN A city responding to a lead crisis in schools reached out to the CDC for help. The agency’s lead experts were just fired. "A few months ago, a test revealed that a child in Milwaukee had elevated levels of lead in their blood. The results triggered an investigation into the family’s home, then the child’s school and then more aging school buildings still riddled with lead paint. With 68,000 students in the Milwaukee Public Schools district and dozens of buildings potentially affected, the city’s health commissioner, Dr. Michael Totoraitis, knew that he needed more help, so he reached out to the National Center for Environmental Health, a division of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to make a plan to address the threat. For the past two months, Totoraitis has been working with a medical toxicologist to triage, essentially, which schools and children might need additional screening and how to understand the lead levels they might find. On Tuesday, he got an email that made his stomach drop. The environmental health team he had been working with at the CDC had been cut, swept up in a massive layoff of federal health workers that’s hitting entire divisions of some agencies. Many employees were immediately placed on administrative leave and are no longer able to access their work. 'They were able to send a last email giving us new points of contact, but the new points of contact were essentially unable to say what level of support they would provide us moving forward,' Totoraitis said."