Rubio, Warnock co-introduce bill to force HUD to inspect regularly for lead

3 years ago 268

Bipartisan authorities would necessitate HUD to hole immoderate problems found, Rubio says

After helium says helium witnessed pb poisoning firsthand, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio says helium is taking steps to unit HUD to support families surviving successful taxpayer-funded housing.

The Republican Florida Senator on with 2 co-sponsors -- Democratic Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican Tennessee Sen. Bill Hagerty -- filed the bipartisan Keep Children and Families Safe From Lead Hazards measure Tuesday night.

The measure would necessitate the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to inspect for pb hazards successful Section 8 lodging and hole immoderate problems found.

According to Rubio, the authorities would nonstop HUD to:

Conduct an yearly hazard appraisal of Section 8 lodging programs to place hazard vulnerability to pb hazards -- including pb partition overgarment and pb drinking h2o work lines
Develop an enactment program to remediate pb hazards
Require that pb hazards go a graded origin successful Uniform Physical Condition Standards (UPCS) inspections
Require an yearly study to Congress connected each Section 8 properties with pb hazards that are location to children nether the property of six

Rubio says enactment is needed present aft discovering this past May that 29 HUD properties successful Florida failed inspection -- adding that the Government Accountability Office reports implicit 6,300 children nether the property of six presently unrecorded successful 205 retired of 562 Florida HUD properties that exposure residents to lead.

He says this paints a representation of a accordant information successful Florida, thing helium saw first-hand successful Jacksonville 5 years ago. In a connection to the News4Jax I-TEAM, Rubio said:

“I archetypal witnessed kid pb poisoning astatine Eureka Gardens Apartments by the nefarious Global Ministries Foundation (GMF) successful 2016. The unsafe conditions astatine respective HUD properties passim the authorities of Florida, and the remainder of the country, are the effect of regular negligence and deficiency of oversight by HUD. Lead hazards airs a superior hazard to tenants, particularly young children and large women. It is unacceptable for HUD to disregard this threat. My measure would guarantee that vulnerability risks are identified and mitigated, truthful that nary household successful HUD-assisted lodging has to endure immoderate devastating effects of pb poisoning.”

It’s important to note, unsafe surviving conditions astatine Eureka Gardens were fixed when The Millennia Companies took implicit the complex and rehabilitated and renamed the authorities spot arsenic Valencia Way.

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