Auburn Lead & Healthy Homes Program (ALHHP)

In partnership with the US Housing and Urban Development Agency, the City of Auburn is providing support to homeowners and landlords for the purposes of protecting children from the dangers of lead-based paint hazards. This assistance is in the form of assessing hazards, prioritizing needs and overseeing a coordinated response. Units qualified under this voluntary program will conform to federal eligibility requirements. These requirements include income limits as established by HUD for the Lewiston-Auburn, ME MSA as well as occupency conditions as outlined in the Unit Eligibility Table below.

Program Benefits

Funds are available to both owner occupied and rental units.
Free lead paint inspection/risk assessment services (valued at $600 per qualified dwelling unit).
Up to $18,000 in grants per approved dwelling unit to repair identified hazards.
Up to $5,000 in CDBG rehabilitation loans (payable or deferred).
Free healthy home assessment services (valued at $500 per qualified dwelling unit).
Health and safety corrections/supplies to the property valued up to $3,000 per approved dwelling unit (for example: mold remediation, electrical, plumbing repairs, or supplies such as vacuum cleaner, air filters etc.).
Free clearance testing valued at $300 per dwelling unit will be provided by the City of Auburn for each enrolled dwelling unit.

Multi-Unit Owner Obligations: In return for program support building owners need to provide safe housing for eligible tenants for 3 years from the date of clearance. Existing qualified tenants are encouraged to stay in the units but any new tenants, or initial occupancy of vacant units MUST be qualified prior to moving in. At the time of screening the tenants must be eligible based on family size and income. If income or family size changes after the initial screening, the tenants have previously been accepted and the owner is not required to evict them. Failure to follow required conditions will result in immediate default on loans and repayment of any additional granted funds.

The owner agrees to maintain the property in lead-safe condition, keep city debts paid to avoid any liens, and maintain ownership for a minimum of 3 years, or until the loan is repaid whichever is later.

Cost Breakdown

For Landlords with income qualified units the owner is required to provide a $2,000 per unit match for each unit they enroll. The city will provide a $15,000 max per unit grant from the Lead Hazard Control work (LHC), $3,000 max per unit grant from the Healthy Homes work and a $5,000 max CDBG Loan to be used for identified deficiencies within the Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes inspections which are not funded within either program’s scope-of-work due to available funds. The loan will be fully amortized for 5 years at 5% interest.

For single family homes, Owner Occupied units will not be asked for a minimum match. (Single family rental units will still have the $2,000 match requirement. The city will provide a $15,000 max grant from the Lead Hazard Control work (LHC), $3,000 max grant from the Healthy Homes work and a $5,000 max CDBG Loan to be used for identified deficiencies within the Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes inspections which are not funded within either program’s scope-of-work due to available funds. Loans for Owner Occupied, single family units will be secured by a mortgage and all payments deferred until transfer of ownership.

Other Cost Considerations: If cost comes in higher than grant funding levels can cover, the owner will be required to secure and provide the additional funding along with the original match commitment. Acceptable changes in Scope of Work which come up after contracting will be paid for by the grant program. The owner will not be asked to pay extra for qualified change orders to complete the Lead Hazard control activities.

Program priorities: This program focuses on units occupied or regularly visited by children under 6 years old or pregnant individuals. Rental units need not have a child resident at the time of assistance but further restrictions on the unit including but not limited to the following will apply:

Requiring compliance as a condition of assistance agreement with owners;
Registering assisted units in a publicly accessible lead-safe housing registry; and/or
Following up with the owner(s) at least annually and document in the unit file that the owner has attempted to comply.

Timetable: The expectation is up to 8 weeks to complete application, income qualifications, assessments, and bidding. The contractor has a minimum 1 week notice to provide Maine DEP before they can start any activities. The project site work will be scheduled by the contractor after work previously committed by other contracts, which is typically 1-2 months. Average site work takes 1.3 weeks per unit. Project size and scope can make this faster or slower. Average results from the previous Lewiston-Auburn Lead program have been 28 weeks from enrollment to clearance (6 ½ months).