Erie Redevelopment Authority Awarded $4.7 Million for Lead Hazard Remediation

The Redevelopment Authority of the City of Erie is receiving millions of dollars in funding to help address hazardous lead in homes throughout the city.

On Thursday, the authority's executive director Aaron Snippert announced that the organization has been awarded a $4.7 million grant through the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), for lead-based paint and hazard remediation.

"This is extremely important for us and really for the Erie community in general," said Snippert. "The ability for us to continue to fight and mitigate lead-based paint and paint hazards across the city is crucial to public health and ultimately the housing stock of the city of Erie."

The funding will be used to rehabilitate 145 homes and rental properties throughout the city, which were built before 1978.

"We have a substantial amount of pre-1940 housing units," said Snippert. "We've only remediated about 1,500 homes and we have about 8,000 pre-1940 rental houses, the need is great and we're going to be fighting this for a long, long time into the future."

Low to moderate homeowners and landlords can apply for funding, which will cover the costs of removing lead paint from their properties.

"A common misconception is that the lead program is just that they are going to come in there and paint and that's really not the case," said Holly Cook, Director of Program Administration for the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Erie. "More often, it's things like window replacement, door replacement, it can be siding. A lot of times, it is replacement though."

According to Snippert, the redevelopment authority hopes to release the funds early next year, and the 145 units must then be completed within two years.