City of Worcester, MA

WORCESTER, Mass. – The City of Worcester has been awarded a $5,500,000 U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) Grant in Lead Hazard Reduction and Healthy Homes grant program funding for citywide use for qualified property owners. 

This award includes $5,000,000 for lead abatement and $500,000 for Healthy Homes funding. This is the largest award the city has ever received for the abatement of lead paint hazards. 

“Our Lead Abatement Program is designed to help eligible property owners with the cost of remediation,” said City Manager Eric D. Batista. “This is critical work that makes a real health improvement in our residents’ lives. If you are the owner of an older property, please reach out to find out if you are eligible. Our goal is to have every eligible unit remediated.”

For this grant, the municipality will address lead hazards in 160 housing units, providing safer homes for low and very low-income families with children. The municipality will collaborate with various local partners to accomplish this work, including UMass Memorial Children’s Medical Center, Central Massachusetts Housing Alliance, Worcester Housing Authority, Worcester Community Action Council, Realtor Association of Central Massachusetts, and Worcester Head Start. 

“This funding, combined with other local, state, and federal resources, will strengthen the foundation of existing efforts and will lead to a sustainable, community wide effort to combat the effects of childhood lead poisoning and home health conditions and help provide the city’s children a safe place to call home” said James Brooks, Director of Housing Development and Healthy Homes.

Worcester is considered a gateway city, which includes a large percentage of housing stock from the industrial revolution era (1880-1920). As such, a large percentage of housing stock is multi-family housing, which was used to house factory workers. Due to the large percentage of deferred maintenance on these properties, there is a continued need to rehabilitate and make this housing stock healthy and safe for children under six years of age. Current data shows a total of 38,442 (American Community Survey-5 Year Estimate) housing units built before 1940 and 63,235 housing units built before 1978, which is 70% of the housing stock. Worcester is home to 11,431 children under six years of age. 

The City of Worcester currently has a 64% initial screening rate, which is lower than the state average of 73%, and remains a high-risk community for childhood lead poisoning. Massachusetts requires all children to be tested between 9-12 months, and at two and three years of age. All children are required to be tested prior to entering daycare, prekindergarten, or kindergarten.

Since 2007, the City of Worcester has been awarded $24,722,582 in Lead Paint Abatement and Healthy Home grants.

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