Los Angeles County officials– as well as local leaders, such as 8th District Councilmember Al Austin and Mayor Robert Garcia– celebrated a million-dollar grant Thursday the county received from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to remove lead-paint hazards from a public-housing complex in Long Beach.

The awarded funds will help rehabilitate the interior and exterior of units at the Carmelitos Public Housing Community, according to a press release from the Los Angeles Development Authority (LACDA).

Elisa Vásquez, LACDA public information officer, said that the development authority was one of 38 Public Housing Agencies (PHAs) in 25 states that was selected to receive this grant.

The funds will target approximately 2,800 public-housing units nationwide and help to identify and reduce lead-based paint hazards, provided through HUD’s Public Housing Capital Fund.

The application process began earlier this spring. In a press release last week, the LACDA announced that it was chosen of one of the grant recipients.

“[The Carmelitos Public Housing Community] is an older property,” Vásquez said. “It was built in 1939. It’s a lead-based paint property, so the grant is primarily for that.”

According to the LACDA, the grant-funded improvements will impact 194 children under the age of six living at the community.

The LACDA also plans to couple this grant with the 2019 Capital Fund Program Grant for full kitchen rehabilitations, according to the press release.

So far, the LACDA is in its third phase of updates and has successfully completed 190 kitchens.

“We are just excited that we’ll be able to remove those hazards from this community,” Elisa Vásquez, LACDA public information officer, said.