Cleveland’s application for a new $7.8 million federal grant to reduce lead hazards in homes was rejected by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, according to Community Development Director Arin Miller-Tait. She said HUD considered the city too risky to manage the money, and that the rating reflected Cleveland’s handling of several federal housing grants, not only lead programs.
Miller-Tait said Cleveland had improved its lead work, completing 100 housing units in the past year after finishing 40 in the previous five years. HUD’s denial letter cited a risk review of current and past performance, including experience managing federal awards, reporting timeliness, progress toward goals, audit findings and timely completion of activities, the article says. Miller-Tait said the city is working with the federal government to learn whether it can appeal and that a debrief meeting is the first step.
The article says HUD had rated three existing lead and housing grants red as recently as March 2025, meaning the city was not completing enough work or spending enough money. Miller-Tait said HUD later moved all three to yellow or green. The grants are $9.7 million for Glenville, set to close at the end of November; $5.7 million citywide, closing next July; and $2 million for healthy homes, closing next June. The city expects to spend more than 90% of the citywide and healthy homes grants and 70% to 90% of the Glenville grant, though it cannot yet confirm exact amounts, according to the article.
Council Member Kris Harsh, vice chair of the development, planning and sustainability committee, said in an email that the rejection was bad news. He disputed any suggestion that council’s Community Development Block Grant spending caused the lead-grant denial. Cleveland received $7.4 million in CDBG funds in 2025. A city-hired law firm found that council members receive lump sums without up-front reporting on how the money will be spent, making tracking difficult, and warned HUD could reduce or stop CDBG funding if the issues are not fixed.
Cleveland has one of the highest lead-poisoning rates in the country, and hundreds of children test positive for elevated blood lead levels each year, largely because of older housing, the article says.