Housing services seeks authorization to accept $7.75 million HUD lead-hazard grant to remediate suburban homes

James Mathie, administrator of Housing Services in the Department of Health and Human Services, told the committee Milwaukee County was awarded a competitive U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes grant totaling $7,750,000. Mathie said the award is “one of the larger awards that we've received,” and that the grant will support lead remediation in the county’s CDBG jurisdictions (suburban municipalities), targeting lower-income homeowners and children with elevated blood lead levels.

Mathie said the grant period runs from March 1, 2025 through March 1, 2029. He explained the grant requires a $700,000 match, which the department expects to satisfy with federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds, and said there is no tax-levy impact and the award should reduce county tax-levy exposure for staffing needs.

Diane Soones (Housing Services) said the county already works with a list of abatement contractors and that the grant proposal included training to expand the pool of contractors able to perform lead-safe renovation work. She said the county will partner with local public-health officers to identify children with elevated blood-lead levels and accept referrals after public-health risk assessments.

Supervisors asked whether the county will contract out abatement work and how the program will coordinate with city and suburban health departments; staff said the county will use existing contractor lists, provide training to expand capacity and coordinate referrals with public-health officers. Several supervisors welcomed the award and asked staff to report back as the program is implemented. The item was provided to the committee as informational and will proceed to finance for further action as required.