The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, HUD, is awarding $7.8 million in grants to 14 local projects in nine states to conduct a wide range of activities such as research on the cost effectiveness of home-based interventions for children with asthma and novel strategies for reducing risks from lead-contaminated soil and house dust.For the first time, HUD is awarding $2 million of those grants to improve indoor environmental conditions and links to education and medical services for asthmatic children and other residents living in public and assisted multifamily housing.Lead is a known toxin that can impair children’s development and have effects lasting into adulthood. It’s estimated that asthma alone costs the U.S. economy approximately $3.5 billion each year. Approximately 16.4 million Americans currently have asthma, including nearly seven million children 18 years of age and younger. The following is a state-by-state breakdown of the funding

State	Grantee	Program*	Amount
Illinois	University of Illinois-Chicago	HHTS	$896,967
	University of Illinois-Chicago	LTS	$499,999
	Sinai Health System	AIPAMH	$549,000
Louisiana	Tulane University	HHTS	$942,465
Massachusetts	Massachusetts Dept. of Public Health	HHTS	$949,071
	Harvard College	HHTS	$942,788
	Univ. of Massachusetts, Lowell	AIPAMH	$424,986
Minnesota	American Lung Association of the Upper Midwest	AIPAMH	$538,000
New Jersey	SIROM Scientific Solutions, LLC	LTS	$499,694
New York	The New York Academy of Medicine	AIPAMH	$549,000
Ohio	University of Cincinnati	HHTS	$268,709
Rhode Island	The Providence Plan	LTS	$298,000
Texas	The University of Texas at Arlington	LTS	$498,138

Grant programs and funding amounts:AIPAMH – Asthma Interventions in Public and Assisted Multifamily Housing $4,000,000HHTS – Healthy Homes Technical Studies $1,795,831LTS – Lead Technical Studies $2,060,986Through these three programs, HUD’s Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control supports research to eliminate dangerous lead and other key housing-related hazards from lower income homes, improves our knowledge of the benefits of green construction and maintenance practices for low income housing and stimulates the implementation and evaluation of housing management practices to improve the health of asthmatic children and the quality of life of their caregivers.Even though lead-based paint was banned for use in the home in 1978, HUD estimates that approximately 24 million homes still have significant lead-based paint hazards today.Lead-contaminated dust is the primary cause of lead exposure and can lead to a variety of health problems in young children, including:

• reduced IQ
• learning disabilities
• developmental delays
• reduced height and impaired hearing

At higher levels, lead can damage a child’s:

• Kidneys
• central nervous system
• Can cause anemia, coma, convulsions and even death.

Lead is not the only danger threatening families and children in the home. Asthma is now recognized as a leading cause of school and work absences, emergency room visits and hospitalizations that disproportionately impacts low income, minority populations.County Properties, 24 years of Real Estate brokerage experience, trust and a Member of the local Better Business Bureau!