(JACKSON, Miss.) – Thursday, Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba joined the City of Jackson Planning Department to announce an award of $1.3 million given by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes (OLHCHH) to address and remediate lead-based paint and other housing-related health hazards in low-income homes that are at significant risk for exposure. As decades of research shows that children suffer disproportionately from mental, physical, and emotional ailments in lead-impacted environments, this funding comes at a time when very few resources have been available to protect children and families from such hazards.
To help prevent undue exposure to lead-based paint and other materials, the City of Jackson Planning Department is encouraging constituents to participate in the Lead Safe Jackson Housing Program.
Thursday, Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba joins staff in the Planning Department in celebrating the success of the program and encouraging more constituents to participate. This is truly an opportunity worth seeking, as the City of Jackson is receiving applications to provide funding to address this unique circumstance in homes throughout the city. This funding will support the testing of all painted surfaces in your home for lead-based paint hazards; if hazards are identified, the City has funding to remove those hazards. For example, the funding would eliminate the lead-based paint hazards in the windows with various lead hazard control measures. Unfortunately, this is not a complete rehabilitation program. The funding will only support the remediation or removal of lead-based paint hazards in your home with additional funding to support other issues in the home that are health-related, such as railing on stairs and exposed electrical outlets; because of this, the type of work may vary depending on the results from the lead-based paint inspections.
There are qualifying requirements: as the home must have been constructed prior to 1978, a child under the age of six (6) years old or an expected mother reside or spend significant time in the home, and the applicant must income qualify. We are seeking a minimum of fifty approved applicants to receive these services. If you feel that you meet these three basic requirements, please contact The City of Jackson’s Office of Housing and Community Development at 601-960-2155 or the Green and Healthy Homes Initiative at 601-345-2052 to receive an application.