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Urban Renewal director tells council grant changes boosted lead abatements but federal extension denial limits program
Summary
The Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency director told the Committee on Legislation that policy changes increased lead-hazard remediation activity but a federal decision not to allow a second extension will stop local contracts; the bureau is coordinating transfers to Erie County and other funding sources.
The Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency director updated the Committee on Legislation on July 1 about the city's LEHI lead-hazard remediation grant, saying policy changes in 2023–24 increased the program’s throughput but a federal decision blocked a second extension and curtailed future contracting.
The director said the original HUD grant began in January 2021 and that when the agency’s current leadership took office in September 2022 the program had made little progress. After hiring new staff in 2023 and requesting program adjustments from HUD’s Office of Lead Hazard Control, the agency received approval in January 2024 to change rules that had limited participation. The director described specific changes: allowing vacant units to be served, revising the definition of “small-scale” landlords so owners of up to five properties could qualify, replacing liens with affordability agreements, and shortening the required child-presence threshold from 20 hours to eight hours.
The director said the changes, plus an…
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