 Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us. Sorry, I'm glad we had a rain plan for today. And thanks for your rolling with it. We are, as you just saw, very happy to welcome to Burlington Juan Matias, HUD's regional administrator for Connecticut, Vermont, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, as I understand it. And the regional administrator is a very important partner for this city. I think you might be the, you know, I've been mayor now 10 years, a full decade. And I think maybe the third regional administrator during that period. And we appreciate you taking the personal effort to be up here and get to understand Burlington and Vermont when it's exciting to be here for the first time. Burlington, the city, this administration certainly comes from the perspective that having a decent, healthy home is a human right. And our partnership with HUD is critical to our efforts to make good on that promise of housing as a human right here in Burlington. This month is Healthy Homes Month, and we are working to increase awareness of housing-related health hazards and lead poisoning prevention. We are working especially hard to provide low-income people, low-income households with safe, healthy homes. This is something that the city has been very committed to for a long time now over multiple administrations, going back to 2003 when the city of Burlington lead program was started. And we have partnered with HUD during that time to make nearly 700 homes healthier for vulnerable, low-income Burlingtonians. So, you know, we were planning on doing this, of course, at 236 South Union Street, which is a great example of the kind of impact that this CEDO initiative can have. That home was built in 1888-5 and is listed on the National Reserve Historic Places. And we've been able to deploy roughly $84,000 of HUD, federal HUD funds there, to update five different units within that building. We've replaced 33 lead-painted windows, which is one of the areas where you really can have a dangerous lead condition with the friction surfaces of windows moving back and forth and creating kind of an airborne hazard and spreading it around the apartment because it's airborne. We have stripped doors, updated window sills, and removed a lead-paint covered medicine cabinet among other important updates. The updated window sills is actually something that we did in my house, not with public funds, but with recommendations from the CEDO team. This is a program that's available to anyone. And there, we ended up putting, if you have an old home like we do with lead-paint, on a kind of seasonal basis, the little chips can fall off and accumulate on these window sills, create a hazard by redoing those sills. You're able to create a much easier, clean surface. And this time of year, when we're coming out, raising the store windows is a time we go in there and can clean it out with kids in the home. That's a kind of impact. It's pretty granular stuff, but it's a kind of impact that the lead program can have on households. Since 2003, we've made homes healthier throughout the city by reducing lead-based paint hazards, improving indoor air quality through ventilation and mold remediation, reducing pests by treating for bed bugs and eliminating holes and trim and siding, fixing doors and windows, reducing trip and fall hazards by replacing floors and more. These are just some of the high-impact improvements we've completed. And these are very durable interventions. Sometimes need to be redone after a period of time, but it basically can create a 20-year period or more when these homes are safe. One of the most notable features of this program is that it is designed to help vulnerable populations who are disproportionately impacted by health hazards in the home that includes low-income households, new Americans, BIPOC households, and families with children. We have worked with the Vermont Department of Health to provide direct outreach to households with elevated blood levels through an outreach box, which includes cleaning supplies, hand soap, night lights, fingernail clippers, hot and cold packs, informational booklets, and more. And this is an exciting partnership and something we've worked to achieve with the Department of Health that we can do this kind of notifications. Maybe we'll talk more about that later. These boxes can provide it to all households with children under the age of six. And we can also provide a HEPA vacuum for those households to keep so that they can keep their home safe and maintained. The Burlington Lead Program also provides an internship opportunity, which creates another way we can offer direct targeted outreach to people living in homes that have peeling or chip paint. Finally, we're also beginning a radon testing and mitigation process to be included with all projects. So that's an exciting new feature. All right, we're very grateful again for our partnership with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, which has served as our funding partner for 19 years, going back to 2003, and which has provided more than $15 million in that time to reduce lead hazards and to address healthy homes in Burlington, Winooski. Without their help, we couldn't have a program like this. And so again, we're so happy to welcome the regional administrator here today. Welcome. Thank you, thank you. Am I next? Or do you? I'll say a few things. Oh, very quick. Sorry, sorry. No, thank you, Mayor. So great. Great. So for mom, whether it kept us from being able to do this outside, but I want to first highlight our exceptional staff. And Todd Rawlings has been at the helm for a number of years overseeing the division of which the Burlington Lead Program is part. But Margaret Williams has done the heavy lifting for, I believe it's almost, it'll be 15 years soon, I think. And Sidney Dermick, Will Vermean, Allie, where are you Allie Davis? And that team really gets the work done for us. So without them, we wouldn't have a whole lot to be bragging about today. And I think we should be bragging a little bit as a small city. But being here today to highlight this collaboration between the federal and local government to advance the Healthy Homes agenda, which regional administrator Matthias will talk about a little bit in a minute, is actually a matter of personal pride for me. Our first kid child was detected as having an elevated blood lead level. So my wife and I became really focused on this issue and dealt with it right away. And we were able to ameliorate the situation pretty much immediately. We went back for testing soon after. And everything was fine. But it really highlighted for us the challenges that people faced in raising children, living in old homes of which Burlington is full of older homes. And so I'm going to touch on some historical context really briefly to put this in the context of housing and public health, really. That's the merger here of issues. I'll give you a little history. And that is that our nation's first piece of major housing legislation was actually the Housing Act of 1937. And among other goals of that act, it called for the provision of decent, safe, and sanitary dwellings for families of low incomes. Fast forward to 1992, Congress passed the first act that dealt with lead-based paint called the Residential Lead Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act, the mouthful, but is intended to mobilize national resources expeditiously through a partnership among all levels of government and the private sector to deliver the most promising, cost-effective methods for evaluating and reducing lead-based paint hazards. And to get my prior role at CEDO in 2003 with the support of then Mayor Clavel, I sought the start-up funding from HUD, and we were successful. That was to forge this partnership that was referenced in the 1937 Housing Act that we're highlighting today. And with HUD's enduring support, as the mayor said, we've made nearly 700 homes safe from lead-based paint, protecting low-income children from the hazards and the lifelong impacts of exposure to lead-based paint and the dust that's created by that. So as you might not know, lead actually remains the number one environmental health threat facing children under the age of six. And our collective efforts have made a real difference in the lives of people that we probably won't ever meet or get to know, but whose lives I think we impacted. Our Healthy Housing Partnership has endured, has ensured that low-income families can have that peace of mind knowing that their children not just have housing, that maybe they can afford, hopefully can afford, but that is also safe and that they're protected from the invisible hazards of lead poisoning and other health hazards. So they can reach their full potential as people. And we're just grateful to have the strong federal partner in HUD that shares our dedication to using housing as a platform to improving health outcomes for children and other vulnerable populations. And really glad to have you with us today. Thank you. Good morning. Thank you. It is so great to be here in Burlington. Thank you, Mayor Weinberger, for your years of service and for convening us here today. Thank you, Director Pine, for the work you've done and for being such a wonderful partner to HUD. And thank you to the Community and Economic Development Office for all the work that has gone into healthy home grants for the city of Burlington. Thank you to our Vermont staff, our wonderful Vermont staff here, State Director Sean Thomas and Katie McElavik. And a profound thanks to the owners who can't be here with us today, Lucas Jensen and Stephanie Jones for working with CEDO to remove lead hazards with our replace windows and do so much more. We all know that housing is a critical pillar of our society. It is foundational to the health of families, our communities and our economy. This year's Healthy Home Month theme is a healthy home at any age. It reminds us that a healthy home is important to homeowners, renters, elderly, children and others regardless of race, income, social status or education. National Healthy Home Month focuses on the importance of home assessments and the impact awareness can have on your health. And it also empowers people to make a change to create the healthiest home possible for themselves and their families. So many physical conditions of the home are associated with a wide range of health issues including unintentional injuries, respiratory illnesses like asthma, lung cancer and lead poisoning. The health and economic burdens from preventable hazards in home are considerable and cost billions of dollars. Since receiving its first HUD grant in 2003, Burlington's program has administered over $15 million to control lead-based paid hazards and other housing related health and safety issues. Their program also provides critical education and outreach to residents to help keep families and households safe from lead poisoning. And every June at HUD, we celebrate National Healthy Homes Month to increase awareness and understanding of what federal and local resources are available to address this crucial need in our communities. And we are thrilled, and I really mean this, thrilled to be here in Burlington this morning to recognize how the city of Burlington has used their HUD healthy home dollars to enable residents to be able to stay healthy and thrive in their homes without having to worry about lead-based paint and all of the issues that come with it. At HUD, we look forward to continuing to be a steady partner of this administration to continue to ensure that we're providing residents here safe, stable housing. And we really appreciate the tremendous work your entire staff has done around this grant and I am grateful and thankful for the opportunity to be here with you all. Thank you. Let's see if these guys have any questions for us. Yeah. Do people apply for this grant money? Is the landlord's apply, is the residents who apply? How does it actually get to the level? Yeah, great question. Brian's provided us to speak to the details. Sure, the property owner is the applicant. So if it's an owner-occupied dwelling, it's a little simpler, but many of our projects are done with rental properties. And we have to work with both the tenants and the owner. We do, I mean, we really... We give a lot of help though. It's a very, we think it's a pretty, it's a high-touch, very user-friendly process. The process of getting the abatement done is actually fairly challenging and complicated, but our staff handles everything. Literally relocating people when the work is being done is essential to protecting their health. And that's something our program does as well. Can you and Margaret speak to where are we looking for people to apply right now? How so? So we always are, right? Yeah, always are. And people do that by what exactly? You could... Actually, we have our application on the Opened Up website, which is sort of access really simple way to apply. We can also send them mail, email, vlp at burlingtonbt.gov. It's one of our email addresses. And 865-LED is our number. So it could call us, it can help people out. You know, we encourage... So as we mentioned, something like 700 properties have been improved, but there are thousands of potentially eligible properties in Burlington, Winooski area. We do cover Winooski homes as well, right? And so, yeah, we very much welcome it as part of your reporting. If you encourage people to call that number, 865-LED, if they are an owner of an older home, if they have children in the house in particular, and especially households that have not gone through this program before. Although sometimes, you know, after a period of time, we get up to 19 years now. There may be some properties that could be eligible for some kind of second treatment, right? But we're hoping to reach more and more properties with each year, so I hope people will be in touch. And the federal government has been a proud partner over these 19 years in providing these resources. We're lucky, and you're lucky as a community that you have the capacity on the ground to fulfill these grants and make sure that, you know, they're taking advantage and leveraging these dollars. So we look forward to continuing to be there. Could you just repeat, Brian or Margaret, how, because it's not just lead. Once we get in and are exploring, investigating a home, sometimes we're able to help with other issues as well, right? Other issues that we can address usually include things like moisture. So dealing with the bathroom fans, ventilation in the kitchen. If flooring is unsafe, because it creates trip hazards, we can, you know, reattach flooring that's failing. You know, there's a number. Think of anything that could be a health hazard. There's a long list of what they could be. And our program, in most cases, can address those as well. So we once estimated that of the 16,000 housing units in Burlington alone, over 10,000 of them would be eligible for this program. So as an order of magnitude, that's what our potential applicant pool could look like. Now, not everyone's income eligible. So there's that piece, because HUD wants to make sure that these scarce dollars are being used for low income families. Question, housing related, but not for this particular program unless someone has... Okay, one on, especially if we have the minister here. Is there anything else? Yeah, I guess each of you guys have spoke about how these health hazards in these homes can even, you know, specifically, you know, particularly impact those of lower income. I'd like to see if you guys can speak a little more about how exactly those, the impact, you know, those lower income families more than, you know, typical families. I would say as a homeowner who has the ability to address my own home issues, if your income is low enough, you're often struggling between paying the insurance, paying the taxes, paying the mortgage, paying all the other costs. And so just limitations and demands on household budgets make it harder to put money into your property. Ultimately, that's sort of the simple answer to that, I think. Yeah, I would add, you know, as a personal experience as being an immigrant and living in these health tools, sometimes it's just lack of knowledge and access to resources, right? So some homeowners aren't aware that these programs exist and it makes the difference when they have that information because you empower them to know that there are public dollars that you can infuse into your units, infuse into your home and doing so, you're making sure your family and those that you rent to your tenants have a safe place to live. So, you know, this is so important because we're making this information accessible to people. And that makes all the difference in being able to actually address change and when it comes to this. So for the landlords, you say there's an income sensitive. Not their income, the income of the tenants. That's the important thing, yeah. So it depends on who you're renting to and if you get a repair on your property. That's right, yeah. Yeah, important distinction there, thanks. Because the other question I have is if you are a homeowner of an old home, you know, are there some signs, you know, that you might have, there might be lead in the house that could be dangerous? What are some signs, you know, how would you know that if you're a homeowner that could be... We tell people to assume that you have lead-based paint if you have a home built before 1979, really. So that's when the federal ban took place. So that's a large chunk of Burlington's housing stock. And to get an assessment, we can provide assessments, right? Yeah, so just to determine for someone to ensure that they can protect their family, we can do those assessments. Yeah, we can pull dust whites for anyone as long as we have permission from a property owner. That will just give you an idea if your window is, that's primarily windows and doors, if they're generating lead dust. So that you know they have, that's the... There once was the impression that chips are what are at risk because kids might pick them up and eat them. That does happen, but the real risk is what the mayor mentioned earlier about friction surfaces, creating essentially invisible dust that the size of a M&M, that amount of lead that gets spread out is poisonous enough to poison a child. So it's really highly toxic. It doesn't go anywhere. You can with really good vacuums. We do have the HEPA vacuums and we encourage people to borrow them from our program. And if they can't afford them, obviously, to get one. But that's the only way that we know of to actually eliminate lead dust in a reasonably safe manner, but it's still not foolproof. Would students count as low income renters? They do, they're not our top priority, but... But they would. Yeah, because you don't know who's gonna live there when they... So for what I'm saying, for a landlord, I'm just seeing how that for the landlords, they can, if they rent to students, they can still go ahead and possibly get. Potentially, yes. We'd have to evaluate the whole home. They could enroll, and then we could see where it falls on our list. What is the income limit? What's the income limit? Yeah, for our owner own property and live in. It depends how many people in your household. So it's adjusted by household size, but Allie or Sid, do you guys know right now where we're at? It's a different chart. So it depends on how many people are in your household, but it's 80% of the area's median income. Which ballpark? Does anybody have a number? No? First three members, it was 69,000, I think they're one member household, it's around 60, 60? 60 to the power of one. Yes, and for two members, it's somewhere between 60 and 69,000. Household income. Household income. They just increased in April pretty significantly. Quite a bit, yep, just went up quite a bit. Yep, yep. So there's a lot of folks who would be eligible who might not think they are eligible. And our guidance is that with the way we follow HUD's ruling on income eligibility, or I should say household eligibility is rental units because there's turnover are generally considered eligible because the next household could be a household with a child, whereas homeowner units need to have a child under six in them to be eligible. I wanna stress something that Margaret pointed out there. The screening, the testing for lead windows doors is something that any Barlin-tonian can get that service for free, and that part is not income eligible.