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Orange County, NY - In an effort to protect the health and safety of Orange County residents, Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) today announced that he's helped secure a $2.82 million federal grant to fund lead hazard control projects throughout the county with a focus on the cities of Newburgh, Middletown, and Port Jervis. While Orange County's grant application was under review, Hinchey directly appealed to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to urge its support for the county's lead abatement project.
"The cities of Newburgh, Middletown and Port Jervis continue to grapple with the presence of lead in their older housing stock, which presents a clear danger to the health and well-being of children and others in these communities," Hinchey said. "This federal grant represents a much-needed boost to the county's efforts to address the ongoing public health threat posed by unabated lead contamination and better protect at-risk children and families. Mitigating lead contamination in the homes throughout of our older communities is expensive, but this federal investment in that effort will help offset those costs for homeowners and landlords and help to ensure that our youngest citizens are protected from the hazards of lead poisoning."
Orange County's three cities represent the great majority of pre-1978 housing stock, in which most of the lead poisoning cases occur. The grant will pay for direct grants to homeowners and landlords to eliminate lead hazards from older homes, increase employee training in lead-safe practices, provide relocation expenses for families temporarily displaced by the lead remediation, fund blood lead testing for at-risk individuals and support outreach efforts to prevent lead poisoning.
The three-year lead abatement initiative will target Orange County's three cities of Newburgh, Port Jervis, and Middletown, due to the prevalence of pre-1940 and pre-1978 housing with lead, but will be available to eligible home owners and landlords countywide.
Hinchey also recognized County Executive Edward Diana and other county officials for their strong leadership and vision on this important initiative.
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