Latasha Dobson in the kitchen of her Mountain Avenue home in Lynn. Federal and city officials picked her home Thursday to celebrate successful residential deleading efforts. Item photo by Owen O’Rourke.
By Thomas Grillo
LYNN — Latasha Dobson knew the moment she toured the cobalt blue home for sale on Mountain Avenue that it was her dream house.
But the 116-year-old Colonial had one major problem: the interior was filled with lead-based paint, a hazard for her three children. The terms of the city’s first-time homebuyer program required deleading to close the deal on the four-bedroom home.
Thanks to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Lynn Housing Authority & Neighborhood Development’s (LHAND) Lead Abatement Program, Dobson received a $28,600 grant to delead the eight-room home she purchased last fall for $256,000.
“The mortgage company would not have let me go forward with the purchase without a commitment to delead the house,” she said. “If the grant was unavailable, I couldn’t have afforded this house. The city made it possible for me to become a homeowner.”
The former Arlington resident, who had been paying $2,450 for a three-bedroom apartment, discovered Lynn thanks to a recommendation from her real estate agent. While she loved Arlington’s schools, the rent was rising and she wanted a piece of the American dream.
Today, the MBTA employee is just a 17-minute ride on the nearby commuter rail in Swampscott to her job in Boston.
Typically, it costs about $8,000 to delead a home. It cost Dobson nearly four times that amount given the amount of intricate wood trim and doors in the 2,100-square-foot dwelling.
To be eligible for the deleading grant a family of four cannot earn more than $73,050.
Lynn was awarded $2.9 million in the latest round of competitive deleading project cash to protect children and families from the hazards of lead-based paint. Since 2009, Lynn has received a total of $9.1 million in HUD monies to make more than 500 homes safe for about 300 children.
While much progress has been made to remove lead paint from the city’s homes, there’s more to be done. Of the 33,000 housing units in Lynn, about 25,000 still need to be deleaded, according to Jeff Weeden, LHAND’s planning and development manager.
Lead blood levels of 5 micrograms per deciliter or more are a concern for young children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In Lynn, 161 children between the ages of 9 months and 4 years of age have blood lead levels of 5 and above, according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.
The primary source of childhood lead poisoning is from exposure to lead paint and dust in homes built before 1978. In Lynn, 88 percent of the housing stock was built before that date, according to the U.S. Census.
James Reed, HUD’s regional administrator, said the program brings together agencies to make deleading happen.
“Here’s the end result of coming together in a proactive measure to address lead hazards,” he said while touring Dobson’s eight-room dwelling.
Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy thanked all of the organizations that make deleading possible for families who can’t afford it.
“Our hope is to reach as many residents as possible who can take advantage and utilize this new funding,” she said. “The continuation of this program ensures that low-income families no longer have to choose between a lead-safe environment for their children and housing they can afford.”
U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) welcomed Dobson to Lynn and said many people are unaware that HUD’s deleading program exists.
“When they enable people like Dobson and her family to come and live in Lynn, it makes the entire community stronger,” he said. “As you walk through her home, you see what a difference this program has made in her life and in the life of her kids.”
Thomas Grillo can be reached @ itemlive.com.