Rafael Ramos, Martiza Bond, Richard Blumenthal, and Justin Elicker at Monday's event.
Two hundred low income households can expect to get assistance from the city to tackle causes of asthma, lead poisoning, and exposure to radon, thanks to the latest infusion of federal cash into New Haven.
The city’s Health Department made the announcement Monday: It will receive $2 million from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to increase resources for its Healthy Homes Program.
The grant will help the department obtain assessments and repairs for 200 homes within the city’s lower-income “opportunity zones.” The means new investment in the structure of homes, 70 percent of which were built prior to 1978.
The grant funds will be used as a supplement to the city’s lead hazards control program to make it possible to address health issues including but not limited to lead poisoning.
The “opportunity zones” lie in Fair Haven, Hill, Dwight, Newhallville, and Dixwell, Health Department Environmental Program Director Rafael Ramos said.
The grant will focus on targeting neighborhoods with high rates of poor housing condition due to outdated home infrastructures and lack of resident resources, city Health Director Martiza Bond said.
Bond noted that homes “built before 1978 come with a lot of issues.”
The Monday press conference announcing the grant was held in front of homes on Grafton Street that have had high rates of housing violations related to health in the past, Bond said.
Concerns targeted also include mold, mildew, tripping hazards, and weatherization gaps causing high heat and electric bills.
Grafton Street Monday morning.
Two years ago Mayor Justin Elicker and Bond agreed to work on a vision of “healthy goals” for the city which involved tackling lead concerns citywide to avoid permanent health damage to youth in particular.
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal joined local leaders for the announcement. He worked with U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro to secure the grant funds.
“There’s a reason why New Haven has received this grant, which is New Haven has such extraordinary leadership to make good use of it,” Blumenthal said.
Blumenthal described the city’s investment in addressing health hazards as a “solid, sound investment into the future.”
“Nothing is more important to a kids health than their homes. Nothing is more important to a kids’ health than [addressing] moisture, mildew, air quality, pests,” Blumenthal said.
He reported that asthma was the leading cause of absenteeism in schools in 2018.
Blumenthal thanks the LCI team for "boots on the ground."
“If a kid can’t go to school or go to the playground, that affects that child for a long time,” he said.
Blumenthal’s office reported that in New Haven, 14.7 percent of school-aged children in New Haven have asthma. Over 1,800 public school students keep asthma medications with the school nurse. In 2019, 625 pediatric emergency room visits were attributed to asthma. Between 2016 and 2021, there have been 1,225 hospital admissions of children under 18 related to asthma.
Ramos added that the city will be working with its small business office to hire local contractors for home repairs.
To let the city know about a health concern in a home resident can call 203 – 946-6999 or submit request via email and seeclickfix.
Watch full press conference below.
"Two hundred low income households can expect to get assistance": low income defined by the tenants or the landlord?
I hope most of this money goes to individual homeowners rather than large scale landlords like Mandy, Pike, etc. While low income people will benefit either way from a healthier place to live, it would be nice to see our taxpayer money to go the little guys rather than to a company like Mandy who could probably afford to do the remediation without taxpayer support.
I know these programs require a lot of paperwork and diligence in the application process so my concern is a company like Mandy will be better organized and first in line to request these dollars and by the time small landlords figure out the process the money will be gone.