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D.C. Chronically Failed to Spend Federal Funds to Remediate Lead Paint Hazards | WCP

February 21, 2019
  • D.C. Policy Center

On February 21, 2019, D.C. Policy Center Executive Director Yesim Sayin Taylor was cited in an article by Morgan Baskin in the Washington City Paper on lead paint remediation in D.C.:

D.C.’s housing stock is, in a word, old. The U.S. Census Bureau’s 2013 American Housing Survey shows that the median housing unit in the DMV was built before 1978, when the federal government banned consumer uses of lead-containing paint. And roughly 44,000 of D.C.’s 104,000 rental housing units are in buildings that were constructed or last remodeled before 1978, according to data culled by D.C. Policy Center Director Yesim Sayin Taylor. Walk-up rentals, which represent about 49,000 housing units, are an average of 43 years old.

Up until about four months ago, the District had a program that would help low-income tenants remediate lead-based paint hazards in older rental properties like these. The program, Lead Safe Washington, provided property owners with funding assistance of up to $17,500 per unit to reduce or eliminate lead-based paint hazards in eligible single- and multi-family properties where low-income tenants live, especially those with children under the age of six.

Read more: D.C. Chronically Failed to Spend Federal Funds to Remediate Lead Paint Hazards, HUD Says | Washington City Paper

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D.C. Policy Center


Established in 2016, the D.C. Policy Center is a non-partisan research and policy organization committed to advancing policies for a strong and vibrant economy in the District of Columbia. Through rigorous research and collaboration, the D.C. Policy Center develops and tests policy ideas, disseminates its findings, and engages in constructive dialogue and debate.

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