CLEVELAND, Ohio – Lead hazards in more than 600 Glenville homes could be cleaned up if the city gets a federal grant designed to make a big impact in areas with a concentration of older homes and low-income families.

The city applied this month for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development grant, which could result in a nearly $10 million investment, much of it in a neighborhood that historically has had some of the city’s highest rates of children lead poisoned.

The grant would be a huge boost to support landlords in the neighborhood who want to comply with the city’s new lead-poisoning prevention law. The law will require the owners of all Cleveland rentals to have their homes inspected and certified as lead-safe by March 2023. The city will start implementing the law in 2021, rolling out the requirement a few ZIP codes at a time.

The swath selected by the city for the grant is adjacent to Glenville Circle North, a neighborhood benefiting from Mayor Frank Jackson’s Transformation Initiative to boost revitalization near anchor institutions and job centers, like hospitals and universities.

The city selected four census tracts in Glenville with a high concentration of pre-1940 built housing, low-income families and children and high risk for lead poisoning.

Community Development Director Tania Menesse said the grant would “reinforce the initiative’s focus on heath, equity and sustainability.” The area is also designated as an Opportunity Zone, created to spur investment in real estate projects, infrastructure and business.

Cleveland currently has different federal lead-reduction grant, which it was awarded in 2017, to help remediate properties across the city that meet certain criteria. The $4.1 million in federal grant and matching funds are expected to clean up lead hazards in more than 200 homes citywide.

HUD reworked the grants this year to give cities and counties more options to make a significant impact in places that have lots of homes built prior to 1940 where low-income families live in rentals, with children at high risk to be exposed to the brain-damaging toxin.

The city estimated in its application that 67% of homes in the four selected Glenville census tracts could be eligible for the program.

Going back decades, Glenville has had some of the highest rates of lead poisoning in the city. In 2001, nearly 60% of children tested there had elevated levels of lead in their blood. In 2015, as many as 1 in 4 children were estimated to be lead poisoned in Glenville.

In Cleveland, about 12 % of tested children have an elevated level of lead in their blood, more than 4 times the national average.

The city, for a brief stint, lost its federal lead funding due to poor performance but in 2015, was awarded more than $3 million in federal grants, which resulted in repairs to 224 housing units.

The Department of Community Development told HUD that it would coordinate efforts with the Lead Safe Cleveland Coalition and the soon-to-be created Lead Safe Home Fund, described as a multi-million dollar community fund that would distribute $40 million in grants to reduce and control lead hazards, $5 million in inspection incentives and $1 million to help develop a workforce of lead inspectors and remediation specialists. In addition, the Lead Safe Resource Center would offer education, resources and loans.

Besides administering the program and paying contractors to inspect and remediate homes, the new grant would pay to:

Train 250 people in lead-safe work practices and obtain certifications, which would help in building a needed workforce.

Increase education and outreach to 10,000 residents, with focus on the Glenville neighborhood.

Conduct 567 free lead risk assessments to help property owners determine risks.

Screen 1,000 children for elevated levels of lead in their blood, an increase of 750% over screening goals in the city’s current grant.

The Cuyahoga County Board of Health, which is also a coalition member, is applying for its own HUD grant that would invest $5.6 million, including matching funds, to remediate lead from 285 older homes the 19 inner ring suburbs.

If the county gets the grant, it would primarily focus on East Cleveland, Cleveland Heights and Lakewood. East Cleveland has had among the highest rates of children testing who are poisoned: 19% in 2017.

The county will prioritize applications related to homes where a child has been exposed to dangerous lead dust but also encourages homeowners and landlords to apply who want to eliminate a risk before a child is poisoned.

“This is absolutely the right approach if you want to work to eliminate lead poisoning,” John Sobolewski, who administers the county’s program said.