OHHLHC assists HUD programs and their participants in complying with
the Lead Safe Housing Rule and enforces the Lead Disclosure Rule.
Compliance Assistance
The
Lead Programs Enforcement (LPE) Division supports HUD's program
offices in ensuring compliance with HUD's Lead
Safe Housing Rule for federally assisted housing. The Lead Safe
Housing Rule requires federally assisted housing to notify, evaluate,
and reduce lead based paint hazards.
Enforcement
The
LPE Division works with the Office of General Counsel to enforce
the Lead Disclosure Rule. The Lead Disclosure
Rule requires homeowners to disclose all known lead based paint
hazards when selling or leasing a residential property built before
1978. Violations of the Lead Disclosure Rule may result in civil
money penalties of up to $11,000 per violation. To ensure compliance,
HUD and EPA conduct on-site inspections of sale and lease records
and issue document request letters and/or subpoenas to landlords
and property managers. HUD conducts targeted investigations and
responds to tips and complaints from the public.
Have
a Tip or Complaint? Contact the Lead
Programs Enforcement Division.
Case
Accomplishments
Since
1998, HUD has conducted over 300 on-site document reviews for Lead
Disclosure Rule compliance. These investigations, done onsite at
property management offices, cover over 400,000 housing units. There
have been 48 settlements to date. Civil settlements typically include
three elements: a civil money penalty, an agreement to perform a
lead paint evaluation and lead hazard control, and a "Child Health
Improvement Project" to benefit children in the local area affected
by the settlement.
To
date, HUD has collected over $850,000 in penalties and commitments
of approximately $30 million to test and abate lead-based paint
and lead-based paint hazards in over 185,000 high-risk units. An
additional $600,000 has been made available to fund Child Health
Improvement Projects such as purchasing portable blood testing devices,
funding lead hazard abatement programs within high-risk cities,
funding lead poisoning prevention programs at local health clinics,
training, and funding educational lead paint programs. HUD also
works with its Office of Inspector General and the Department of
Justice on those cases where there is potential evidence of forgery
of tenant signatures and/or dates, backdated lead disclosure forms,
or other false claims. In 2001, a Washington, DC-area landlord was
sentenced to incarceration for two years for obstructing an investigation
and making false statements to federal officials to conceal his
failure to notify tenants of lead-based paint by forging tenant
signatures.
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