Feds to look at landlords with lead problems
|
By Leigh Jones
The Daily News
Published February 8, 2008
GALVESTON — Galveston property owners who know their homes have lead paint
contamination and have tried to hide it from tenants or potential buyers could
soon be slapped with $121,000 fines.
Investigators from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development have
requested information about cases of childhood lead poisoning on the island,
looking for violations of a federal law that requires owners to share
information about their property’s lead status if they know it.
Jon Gant, director of HUD’s office of healthy homes and lead hazard control,
said his department became interested in Galveston after learning of its high
number of lead poisoning cases.
A recent study conducted by the Baylor College of Medicine showed that about 20
percent of island children tested had elevated blood lead levels, a statistic
that has not changed in 15 years.
The Baylor study also discovered that 20 percent of properties where poisoned
children lived were owned by just 12 landlords.
Gant said Thursday he was anxious to get his hands on that information.
“We take this seriously,” he said. “That’s why we’re looking at this situation.
We usually pick hot spots to focus on. Then we try to see if a certain landlord
or management company is involved more often than it should be.”
Under Title 10 of the Housing and Community Development Act, the federal
government can fine property owners who don’t disclose lead contamination. Each
of the law’s 11 sections carries an $11,000 penalty.
If owners do not know their property is contaminated, they are off the hook.
But Galveston County Health District officials say all owners are notified if
their property tests positive for lead contamination during an environmental
assessment, making a defense of ignorance hard to maintain.
Baylor researchers turned the results of their study over to the Galveston
County Health District late last week.
The Daily News has requested the list of 12 landlords and the addresses of the
properties that were flagged in the report.
Myrna Reingold, with Galveston County’s legal department, said she was reviewing
the request for confidentiality conflicts that might keep the information from
being made public.
As investigators go after local landlords, they also have encouraged local
officials to apply for a federal housing department grant to fund a program to
remove lead from homes owned by low-income families.
Last year, the federal housing department handed out $76.4 million in Lead Base
Paint Hazard Control Program grants to smaller cities.
Unlike some other federal grants, this one does not have a minimum population
requirement that would make Galveston ineligible.
Gant said his staff contacted city officials and encouraged them to apply for
this year’s round of funding, which is capped at $3 million per city.
Gant is not allowed to say when this year’s grant application period will start,
but he did say it would be soon.
The city will then have two months to finalize and submit its application.
www.galvnews.com
For More Information Contact:
Kurt Koopmann
Public Information Officer
Galveston County Health District
409-938-2211 or 409-392-0007
kkoopman@gchd.org |
