Haverhill Celebrates Start of Federal Home Lead Removal Program; 75 Households to Benefit

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With the support of the federal government, low- and moderate-income Haverhill families with children six and under and who live in houses built before 1978 may apply to have any lead paint removed at no cost to them.

City officials took a moment Monday to celebrate the beginning of a historic lead paint removal program paid entirely with a $2.4 million federal lead abatement grant and matching federal Community Development Block Grant funds.

Noting that lead paint poisoning is a “100% preventable” risk, Mayor Melinda E. Barrett said the federal grant is historic both because it is the largest lead abatement grant awarded to any community in the country during the 2024 grant cycle and because it is the first federal lead paint removal grant the city has received.

“It’s also the first time the city of Haverhill has had its own federal resources ever to deal exclusively with lead paint,” Barrett noted.

U.S. Congresswoman Lori Trahan attended the event and noted Haverhill is behind other Massachusetts cities in remediating the risk of lead paint poisoning because it couldn’t qualify for a grant until recently.

“For years Haverhill has had to rely on leftover funds from neighboring gateway cities like Lowell and Lawrence. But, as childhood lead poisoning rates rose, worsened by the housing crisis, Haverhill finally qualified for its own direct investment,” Trahan said.

She also said she believes the impact goes beyond cleanup.

“This is about more than just removing lead paint. It’s about giving families an opportunity. It’s about ensuring that every child in Haverhill has the chance to grow up in a safe, healthy home,” Trahan said.

For centuries the heavy metal has been added to paint to reduce drying times and make colors more vibrant. But its toxic quality has been known for nearly as long. Benjamin Franklin wrote an essay about its dangers in 1786. Lead causes nervous system degeneration and reproductive issues. Lead paint chips are particularly attractive to children because lead paint is sweet.

As WHAV reported more than a year ago, Haverhill won the federal grant in 2024, but couldn’t access the money until it could prove it had the capacity to manage its own lead paint remediation program, according to Sophia Gross, an aide to Trahan. Since receiving the award, the city hired a program manager and trained eight contractors on lead paint removal techniques.

The city is using $368,806 in annual federal Community Development Block Grant money to meet the grant match requirement, according to Christine Lindberg, the mayor’s chief of staff. The city expects to be able to remove lead paint from 75 homes. Homes with children who have been found with high levels of lead in their blood will be given preference. Landlords with up to four units are eligible to apply.

So far, the city has overseen the removal of lead paint from four houses, Barrett said. Casey Murnane is the fifth on the list. She and her family applied for a grant after they discovered her two-year-old granddaughter, who lives with her, had high levels of lead in her blood during a routine physical. The family moved into a hotel Sunday and expect to be there for a week and a half while contractors remove every bit of lead paint and lead paint dust from the family home. The grant is not only paying Murnane’s hotel bill but also the cost of a storage pod for her furniture and effects.

The city partnered with Haverhill Public Schools, Community Action and the Haverhill YMCA to get the word out to families with preschoolers.

“It’s money well-spent because on the flip side if we don’t catch these issues with lead poisoning and the damages and detriments it does to a child, we end up paying down the line with special programming,” Barrett said.

An application for the program can be found on the city website, HaverhillMA.gov.