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New lead-based paint requirements mean there are changes on the horizon for local housing.
Warsaw Housing Authority executive director Laura Kaufman told the WHA board of commissioners Monday that painted surfaces must be looked at more closely by the inspector checking client residences.
However, it won't be that simple for undertaking rehabilitation projects for Housing Opportunities of Warsaw, a sister agency to the WHA.
Kaufman said that for the WHA the changes mean a closer visual inspection for chipping or flaking of paint and, if it is found to be lead-based, the area must be encapsulated, or painted over and then inspected by someone who is certified to do so by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.
For HOW, though, a risk assessor must go into a home before the rehabilitation begins and take dust swabs of painted surfaces that are then sent to the one certified laboratory in the state for analysis. Any "disturbing" of the area in question would mean more stringent measures must be followed during the rehabilitation process.
Jake Murray of HOW recently completed a weeklong course on the inspection process and, if he passes required testing Thursday, will be able to serve as the risk assessor and will receive IDEM certification.
Lead-based paint issues are covered, in part, by grant funding that allows HOW to offer the rehabilitation programs in the area.
Also, the WHA and HOW work hand-in-hand with the Kosciusko County Health Department to keep one another aware of any lead-based paint poisonings that might occur in the county. This helps keep the housing agencies aware whether their clients are living in substandard conditions in a rental unit.
In other business, the WHA board was informed by Kaufman that there are a total of 136 families receiving housing assistance through the housing authority. That number is about 78 percent of the target number of 175, Kaufman said, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development would like to see the WHA at 90 percent. Currently, 47 additional families have completed the application process and are searching for housing in the Warsaw area. Kaufman estimates that the agency completes two interviews a day to get people started on the process required to receive housing assistance.
The agency's shift from certificate to voucher assistance is slowly taking place, Kaufman said, with eight more clients being converted from certificate to voucher status, bringing the total number of clients on vouchers to 91.
HUD is discontinuing the certificate program, which allowed for rent to be paid at fair market value on a housing unit only. The voucher program allows clients to pay the difference between the amount allotted and the actual cost of rent. Kaufman said all of the WHA clients should be switched over to vouchers by the end of 2001.
"We were glad to see that we were actually on track," Kaufman said.
The WHA board of commissioners meets at 5:15 p.m. the fourth Monday of each month. Board members are Bob Kline, Sue Charlton, Dennis Cultice, Sherri Ruggier-Milton, Tom Lemon and Bill Rhoades, city council representative (nonvoting member).
