HUD established procedures in the Lead Safe Housing Rule in 1999 to eliminate lead-based paint hazards, as far as practicable, in public housing. However, it did not have a plan to manage lead-based paint and lead-based paint hazards in public housing. Additionally, HUD generally did not monitor whether public housing agencies had implemented lead-based paint hazard reduction and documented the activities at their public housing developments. These weaknesses occurred because HUD relied on public housing agencies to implement their own methods to achieve lead-safe housing, which should have included implementing lead-based paint hazard reduction. Further, instead of monitoring public housing agencies for compliance with the lead-based paint hazard reduction procedures in the Lead Safe Housing Rule, HUD relied on public housing agencies’ annual certifications of compliance. Without a plan to manage lead-based paint and lead-based paint hazards in public housing and ensure that public housing agencies implemented lead-based paint hazard reduction, HUD lacked assurance that (1) families with children under 6 years of age residing in public housing were not exposed to lead-based paint hazards and, thus, protected from lead exposure and (2) its procedures for eliminating lead-based paint hazards in public housing were effective.
We recommend that the General Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing require the Real Estate Assessment Center in coordination with the Office of Field Operations to (1) develop a plan to manage lead-based paint and lead-based paint hazards in public housing, (2) determine whether public housing agencies identified as having lead-based paint in their housing developments maintain and implement a plan for controlling lead-based paint, and (3) assess the lead-based paint hazard reduction activities performed at 19 developments associated with 18 public housing agencies reviewed that did not implement interim controls or adequately document that lead-based paint had been abated or treated with interim controls. If those reduction activities did not fully abate the lead-based paint, HUD should ensure that the public housing agencies implement interim controls and ongoing maintenance and reevaluation programs.
Recommendations
Public and Indian Housing
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Status2023-CH-0001-001-AOpenClosedClosed on Septiembre 29, 2023
We recommend that the General Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing require the Real Estate Assessment Center in coordination with the Office of Field Operations to develop and implement a plan to manage lead-based paint and lead-based paint hazards in public housing.
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Status2023-CH-0001-001-BOpenClosedPrioridadPriority
We believe these open recommendations, if implemented, will have the greatest impact on helping HUD achieve its mission to create strong, sustainable, inclusive communities and quality affordable homes for all.
Requires the REAC in coordination with OFO to determine the number of developments and associated units that contain lead-based paint and lead-based paint hazards.
Status
In May 2023, HUD published a final rule establishing a new approach to defining and assessing housing quality: The National Standards for the Physical Inspection of Real Estate. Public Housing regulations were amended, and Public Housing program participants were required to comply with this final rule and use the NSPIRE standards starting July 1, 2023. The Real Estate Assessment Center and Office of Field Operations will collaborate with the Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes, the Office of Policy Development and Research, and a statistician to evaluate data collected under the NSPIRE inspection program to estimate the number of public housing developments and associated units that contain lead-based paint and lead-based paint hazards. As of November 2024, PIH reported that inspections have had a slow start due to procurement delays. Additionally, the NSPIRE system did not get the requested functionality to collect lead inspections. The final action target date is March 31, 2025.
Analysis
To address this recommendation, HUD will need to provide evidence that it collected and evaluated data under NSPIRE and estimated the number of public housing developments and associated units that contain lead-based paint and lead-based paint hazards.
Implementation of this recommendation will assist HUD in working with PHAs to address the public housing units that contain lead-based paint and lead-based paint hazards and help HUD’s oversight of units in need of hazard reduction.
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Status2023-CH-0001-001-COpenClosed
We recommend that the General Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing require the Real Estate Assessment Center in coordination with the Office of Field Operations to determine the cost to eliminate or control the lead-based paint and lead based paint hazards in public housing and the timeframe to complete such work based on the existing funding levels and strategies that could accelerate the timeframe.
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Status2023-CH-0001-001-DOpenClosedClosed on Septiembre 29, 2023
We recommend that the General Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing require the Real Estate Assessment Center in coordination with the Office of Field Operations to implement adequate procedures and controls to ensure that public housing agencies appropriately identify and control lead-based paint and eliminate lead-based paint hazards in public housing.
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Status2023-CH-0001-001-EOpenClosed
We recommend that the General Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing require the Real Estate Assessment Center in coordination with the Office of Field Operations to determine whether the public housing agencies identified as having lead-based paint hazards in their housing developments maintain and implement a plan for managing lead-based paint. For any public housing agency that does not have a plan for the management of lead-based paint in its public housing developments, as appropriate, HUD should inform the public housing agency that it should develop and implement its own plan.
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Status2023-CH-0001-001-FOpenClosed
We recommend that the General Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing require the Real Estate Assessment Center in coordination with the Office of Field Operations to assess the lead-based paint hazard reduction activities performed at the 19 developments associated with 18 public housing agencies reviewed that did not implement interim controls and ongoing maintenance and reevaluation activities or adequately document that previously identified lead-based paint had been abated or treated with interim controls and subjected to ongoing maintenance and reevaluation activities. If those reduction activities did not fully abate the lead-based paint, HUD should ensure that the public housing agencies implement interim controls and ongoing maintenance and reevaluation programs and maintain required documentation.