Update HUD regulations, policies, and procedures following the regulatory process required by the amended Lead Safe Housing Rule, in consideration of CDC's lowered BLRV of 3.5 ug/dL.

Status

On January 17, 2025, HUD published a Federal Register notice to modify its EBLL threshold under its Lead Safe Housing Rule from to 5 to 3.5 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood (µg/dL) for a child under the age of 6, consistent with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's current blood lead reference value of 3.5 µg/dL.

As of July 17, 2025, the Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes (OLHCHH) informed HUD OIG that HUD has drafted a joint notice for HUD offices impacted by the modified elevated blood lead level (EBLL) threshold. These offices include OLHCHH, the Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD), the Office of Multifamily Housing Programs (MF), and the Office of Public and Indian Housing (PIH).

OLHCHH’s timeline to finish implementing the recommendation:

• The notice will enter the clearance process by the end of August.
• CPD, MF, PIH, and OLHCHH will publish the final joint notice by September 30, 2025.

The estimated completion date for these actions is September 30, 2025. The original estimated completion date was June 30, 2024, and was revised to account for the time required to (1) receive and review public comments on HUD’s proposed change to the EBLL threshold and (2) coordinate the implementation of the EBLL threshold change across the impacted HUD offices.

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Analysis

To fully address this recommendation, OLHCHH must provide evidence that HUD has updated its regulations, policies, and procedures so that they are consistent with CDC’s lowered BLRV of 3.5 ug/dL.

Implementation of this recommendation will help ensure children living in public housing with EBLLs receive effective environmental interventions.

Update applicable requirements to require assisted property owners, including PHAs, to maintain adequate documentation to support their determinations that maintenance and hazard reduction activities that disturb surfaces with lead-based paint qualify for the de minimis exemption from the lead-safe work practices under the Lead Safe Housing Rule.

Status

To address this recommendation, The Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes (OLHCHH) agreed to:

1. Issue a notice to assisted target housing owners and public housing agencies on the de minimis exception citing the correct application of the de minimis threshold; describing appropriate documentation methods for the application of the de minimis threshold; and recommendations of best practices for documenting applications.
2. Collect additional data regarding the use of the de minimis threshold, including information on how private and public housing owners: (a) determine how much paint in target housing will be disturbed during a maintenance or rehabilitation project; (b) use the paint disturbance area information; (c) monitor the amount of paint disturbed in projects that are designed to disturb de minimis amounts of paint in target housing.
3. Design and conduct webinars, including at least one for each program office’s major categories of stakeholders on requirements and best practices pertaining to the de minimis exception under the Lead Safe Housing Rule and its implementation; record the webinars on the HUD website (e.g., on HUD Exchange) for future viewing by stakeholders; and conduct outreach promoting the webinars.

The OLHCHH had drafted guidance on the de minimis exception to the Lead Safe Housing Rule for PIH, Multifamily Housing, and CPD and submitted it through the clearance process in September 2024. As of July 2025, OLHCHH continues to revise the draft guidance in consideration of the comments it received during the clearance review process. HUD did not provide an updated target date to complete the agreed upon actions, which had been January 31, 2024.

Analysis

To implement this recommendation, HUD needs to provide evidence that it has implemented the three actions OLHCHH agreed to complete.

Implementation of this recommendation and associated corrective actions will ensure assisted property owners are sufficiently informed regarding the requirements to support their determinations that maintenance and hazard reduction activities that disturb surfaces with lead-based paint qualify for the de minimis exemption from the lead-safe work practices under the Lead Safe Housing Rule and that assisted property owners are conducting this work safely, thereby ensuring households are residing in safe and healthy HUD-assisted housing.