The Cook County Board of Commissioners authorized acceptance of a three-year $2 million Lead Hazard Reduction Grant to remove lead-based paint from homes in specific high-risk suburban areas. In accordance with requirements from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Cook County Department of Public Health and the Bureau of Economic Development will provide lead hazard mitigation in conjunction with the County’s Residential Resilience Program. Both agencies worked together on the grant application.

Homes in the following communities, which will be targeted through the grant, are believed to be at high-risk for lead poisoning: Town of Cicero; Cities of Berwyn, Blue Island and Calumet City; and Villages of Calumet Park, Dolton, Maywood, Riverdale and Robbins. The Residential Resilience Program is administered by Cook County’s Department of Planning and Development and is primarily focused on flood remediation. The program will assist income-qualified owners of single-family homes (one-to-four units) who reside in suburban Cook County with a one-time monetary grant. HUD qualification guidelines fall under the broad category of resilience. As a result, applicants must have owned their homes before the severe storms and flooding that occurred during April and May 2013, which help define a community’s resilience.