The Maine Affordable Housing Coalition (MAHC), an NLIHC state partner, and other Maine housing advocates celebrated the rollout of a new $4 million state lead abatement program. The Lead Paint Hazard Abatement Program (LPHAP) will provide funding to property owners for lead paint removal. State Representative Jared Golden (D-Lewiston) spearheaded the legislation creating the program, which will benefit households living in more than 200 homes across the state and prevent future childhood lead poisoning.
Lead poisoning can cause learning disabilities, behavioral problems, hearing damage, and language delays. In more serious cases, children can have seizures and attention disorders. LPHAP will provide a cost-effective solution for combatting lead poisoning in areas with high exposure levels. In June 2015, the Maine legislature approved a lead-safety measure proposed by MAHC and championed by a bipartisan coalition of state legislators that improved regulations for blood lead testing. Under the new lead-testing standards, the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention has already identified more than 680 children in Maine as lead-poisoned who would not have been so identified prior to the 2015 law.
Maine has the sixth oldest housing stock in the U.S. Nearly a third of Maine homes were built before 1950 when paint still held large concentrations of lead. Given the risk lead paint poses to children, advocates have been pushing for lead abatement legislation for several years. The creation of LPHAP was included in the summer 2018 spending package vetoed by Governor Paul LePage. The veto was overridden by the Maine House of Representatives (by a vote of 139-4) and the Maine Senate (by a vote of 32-1). Advocacy by MAHC and the bill sponsors was critical to the bill’s passage.
LPHAP will provide grants to eligible homeowners and owners of eligible rental units. It will largely mirror HUD’s lead hazard grants but contains some key provisions meant to improve on the federal program and encourage landlords to act more proactively to protect their tenants before they get poisoned. The program is designed to complement existing lead-based paint abatement programs in Maine.
“This new lead abatement initiative is going to make hundreds of Maine homes safe for kids at a time when we’re clearly still struggling to prevent lead poisoning statewide,” said Greg Payne, director of the Maine Affordable Housing Coalition and NLIHC board chair. “We’re grateful to Representative Golden and the bipartisan coalition of legislators who stepped up and provided the leadership to make it happen. Both our kids and our state’s finances will be healthier for it.”
Maine election officials announced on November 8 that the bill’s sponsor Representative Golden was the winner of the U.S. House of Representative race for Maine’s 2nd District. He is the first person to unseat an incumbent in that district in over 100 years.
For more information, contact the Maine Affordable Housing Coalition Director Greg Payne at: 207-245-3341 or [email protected]