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A recent Dallas Morning News investigation revealed how Dallas failed to administer a lead abatement program, further eroding residents’ trust in their city government and leaving dozens of children exposed to a health hazard.
Dallas had the money and the applicants for house remediation using federal dollars. But even though it had actively sought the funds, City Hall couldn’t remove lead in dozens of homes where families had asked for help. Only four houses received lead abatement. Dallas had to return most of the $2.3 million grant.
The lead abatement fiasco should be a warning. The City Council must demand greater accountability from city management regarding the array of housing programs that Dallas administers.
Exposure to lead, found in paint before 1978, can cause behavioral and developmental problems in young children. It is a sad state of affairs when low-income families have a problem that threatens their children, there is money to fix it, and yet they cannot get the help — not because they didn’t qualify for assistance but because the city can’t competently manage that money. No wonder some residents who had been promised assistance told our colleague María Ramos Pacheco that they feel cheated.
More than 90 residents applied to the Dallas program, but only 53 homes were inspected and 27 children tested for lead exposure. After having contractors work on four homes, the city closed the program in 2023 and returned about $1.8 million to the feds.
Ramos Pacheco asked several city officials about the Healthy Homes Lead Reduction Program. The lack of transparency is troubling. The city quoted the newsroom $6,000 to redact and release records regarding the program. What few answers The News received were vague.
Interim City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert told The News that the grant was closed because it was “cumbersome to administer.” A follow-up contact with the city’s communications department mentioned “specific eligibility requirements” that were never fully explained.
Meanwhile, the housing department told residents that there weren’t enough lead abatement contractors. It’s a questionable explanation given that Waco and Fort Worth each were able to remediate dozens of homes under the same federal grant program.
This is the kind of boondoggle that makes some taxpayers skeptical about the city’s housing programs, no matter the good intentions behind them. It’s not council members’ job to micromanage those programs, but they should be asking more questions and holding city staff accountable for results.
City expenditures across the board merit scrutiny, even if they’re being paid with federal dollars.
It’s bad enough having to return federal money that the city requested and received. Worst of all is leaving children who could have been helped exposed to lead.
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