(a) Purpose. The purpose of this subpart M is to establish procedures to eliminate as far as practicable lead-based paint hazards in housing occupied by families receiving tenant-based rental assistance. Such assistance includes tenant-based rental assistance under the Section 8 certificate program, the Section 8 voucher program, the HOME program, the Shelter Plus Care program, the Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS (HOPWA) program, and the Indian Housing Block Grant program. Tenant-based rental assistance means rental assistance that is not attached to the structure.

(b) Applicability. (1) This subpart applies only to dwelling units occupied or to be occupied by families or households that have one or more children of less than 6 years of age, common areas servicing such dwelling units, and exterior painted surfaces associated with such dwelling units or common areas. Common areas servicing a dwelling unit include those areas through which residents pass to gain access to the unit and other areas frequented by resident children of less than 6 years of age, including on-site play areas and child care facilities.

(2) For the purposes of the Section 8 tenant-based certificate program and the Section 8 voucher program:

(i) The requirements of this subpart are applicable where an initial or periodic inspection occurs on or after September 15, 2000; and

(ii) The PHA shall be the designated party.

(3) For the purposes of formula grants awarded under the Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS Program (HOPWA) (42 U.S.C. 12901 et seq.):

(i) The requirements of this subpart shall apply to activities for which program funds are first obligated on or after September 15, 2000; and

(ii) The grantee shall be the designated party.

(4) For the purposes of competitively awarded grants under the HOPWA Program and the Shelter Plus Care program (42 U.S.C. 11402-11407) tenant-based rental assistance component:

(i) The requirements of this subpart shall apply to grants awarded pursuant to Notices of Funding Availability published on or after September 15, 2000; and

(ii) The grantee shall be the designated party.

(5) For the purposes of the HOME program:

(i) The requirements of this subpart shall not apply to funds which are committed in accordance with § 92.2 of this title before September 15, 2000; and

(ii) The participating jurisdiction shall be the designated party.

(6) For the purposes of the Indian Housing Block Grant program:

(i) The requirements of this subpart shall apply to activities for which funds are first obligated on or after September 15, 2000; and

(ii) The IHBG recipient shall be the designated party.

(7) The housing agency, grantee, participating jurisdiction, or IHBG recipient may assign to a subrecipient or other entity the responsibilities of the designated party in this subpart.

Definitions and other general requirements that apply to this subpart are found in subpart B of this part.

(a) Notice. In cases where evaluation or paint stabilization is undertaken, the owner shall provide a notice to residents in accordance with § 35.125. A visual assessment alone is not considered an evaluation for purposes of this part.

(b) Lead hazard information pamphlet. The owner shall provide the lead hazard information pamphlet in accordance with § 35.130.

(a) (1) During the initial and periodic inspections, an inspector acting on behalf of the designated party and trained in visual assessment for deteriorated paint surfaces in accordance with procedures established by HUD shall conduct a visual assessment of all painted surfaces in order to identify any deteriorated paint.

(2) For tenant-based rental assistance provided under the HOME program, visual assessment shall be conducted as part of the initial and periodic inspections required under § 92.209(i) of this title.

(b) The owner shall stabilize each deteriorated paint surface in accordance with §§ 35.1330(a) and (b) before commencement of assisted occupancy. If assisted occupancy has commenced prior to a periodic inspection, such paint stabilization must be completed within 30 days of notification of the owner of the results of the visual assessment. Paint stabilization is considered complete when clearance is achieved in accordance with § 35.1340. If the owner does not complete the hazard reduction required by this section, the dwelling unit is in violation of Housing Quality Standards (HQS) until the hazard reduction is completed or the unit is no longer covered by this subpart because the unit is no longer under a housing assistance payment (HAP) contract with the housing agency. For the unit subsequently to come under a HAP contract with the housing agency for occupancy by a family with a child under age 6, paint stabilization must be completed, including clearance being achieved in accordance with § 35.1340.

(c) The owner shall provide a notice to occupants in accordance with § 35.125(b)(1) and (c) describing the results of the clearance examination.

(d) The designated party may grant the owner an extension of time to complete paint stabilization and clearance for reasonable cause, but such an extension shall not extend beyond 90 days after the date of notification to the owner of the results of the visual assessment.

Notwithstanding the designation of the PHA, grantee, participating jurisdiction, or Indian Housing Block Grant (IHBG) recipient as the designated party for this subpart, the owner shall incorporate ongoing lead-based paint maintenance activities into regular building operations in accordance with § 35.1355(a).

(a) Within 15 calendar days after being notified by a public health department or other medical health care provider that a child of less than 6 years of age living in a dwelling unit to which this subpart applies has been identified as having an elevated blood lead level, the designated party shall complete an environmental investigation of the dwelling unit in which the child lived at the time the blood was last sampled and of common areas servicing the dwelling unit. When the environmental investigation is complete, the designated party shall immediately provide the report of the environmental investigation to the owner of the dwelling unit. If the child identified as having an elevated blood lead level is no longer living in the unit when the designated party receives notification from the public health department or other medical health care provider, but another household receiving tenant-based rental assistance is living in the unit or is planning to live there, the requirements of this section apply just as they do if the child still lives in the unit. If a public health department has already conducted an evaluation of the dwelling unit in regard to the child's elevated blood lead level case, or the designated party conducted an environmental investigation of the unit and common areas servicing the unit between the date the child's blood was last sampled and the date when the designated party received the notification of the elevated blood lead level, the requirements of this paragraph shall not apply. If the designated party or the owner conducted a risk assessment of the unit and common areas servicing the unit during that period, the designated party need not conduct another risk assessment there but shall conduct the elements of an environmental investigation not already conducted during the risk assessment.

(b) Verification. After receiving information from a person who is not a medical health care provider that a child of less than 6 years of age living in a dwelling unit covered by this subpart may have an elevated blood lead level, the designated party shall immediately verify the information with the public health department or other medical health care provider. If the public health department or provider denies the request, such as because it does not have the capacity to verify that information, the designated party shall send documentation of the denial to the HUD rental assistance program manager, who shall make an effort to verify the information. If that department or provider verifies that the child has an elevated blood lead level, such verification shall constitute notification, and the designated party shall take the action required in paragraphs (a) and (c) of this section.

(c) Lead-based paint hazard reduction. Within 30 calendar days after receiving the report of the environmental investigation from the designated party or the evaluation from the public health department, the owner shall complete the reduction of identified lead-based paint hazards in accordance with § 35.1325 or § 35.1330. Lead-based paint hazard reduction is considered complete when clearance is achieved in accordance with § 35.1340 and the clearance report states that all lead-based paint hazards identified in the environmental investigation have been treated with interim controls or abatement or the public health department certifies that the lead-based paint hazard reduction is complete. The requirements of this paragraph do not apply if the designated party or the owner, between the date the child's blood was last sampled and the date the designated party received the notification of the elevated blood lead level, already conducted an environmental investigation of the unit and common areas servicing the unit and the owner completed reduction of identified lead-based paint hazards. If the owner does not complete the lead-based paint hazard reduction required by this section, the dwelling unit is in violation of the standards of 24 CFR 982.401.

(d) Notice of lead-based paint hazard evaluation and reduction. The owner shall notify building residents of any lead-based paint hazard evaluation or reduction activities in accordance with § 35.125.

(e) Reporting requirement. (1) The owner shall report the name and address of a child identified as having an elevated blood lead level to the public health department within 5 business days of being so notified by any other medical health care professional.

(2) The owner shall also report each confirmed case of a child with an elevated blood lead level to the HUD field office and the HUD Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes within 5 business days of being so notified.

(3) The owner shall provide to the HUD field office documentation that it has conducted the activities of paragraphs (a) through (d) of this section, within 10 business days of the deadline for each activity.

(f) Other assisted dwelling units in the property. (1) If the environmental investigation conducted pursuant to paragraph (a) of this section identifies lead-based paint hazards, the designated party or the owner shall, for other assisted dwelling units covered by this part in which a child under age 6 resides or is expected to reside on the date lead-based paint hazard reduction under paragraph (c) of this section is complete, and the common areas servicing those units, conduct a risk assessment in accordance with § 35.1320(b) within 30 calendar days after receipt of the environmental investigation report if there are 20 or fewer such units, or 60 calendar days if there are more such units.

(2) If the risk assessment conducted under paragraph (f)(1) of this section identifies lead-based paint hazards, the owner shall complete the reduction of the lead-based paint hazards in accordance with § 35.1325 or § 35.1330 within 30 calendar days, or within 90 calendar days if more than 20 units have lead-based paint hazards such that the control work would disturb painted surfaces that total more than the de minimis threshold of § 35.1350(d). Lead-based paint hazard reduction is considered complete when clearance is achieved in accordance with § 35.1340 and the clearance report states that all lead-based paint hazards identified in the risk assessment have been treated with interim controls or abatement.

(3) The requirements of this paragraph (f) of this section do not apply if:

(i) The designated party or the owner, between the date the child's blood was last sampled and the date the owner received the notification of the elevated blood lead level, both conducted a risk assessment of the other assisted dwelling units covered by paragraph (f)(1) of this section and the common areas servicing those units, and the owner conducted interim controls of identified lead-based paint hazards in accordance with § 35.1225(c); or

(ii) The owner has documentation of compliance with evaluation, notification, lead disclosure, ongoing lead-based paint maintenance, and lead-based paint management requirements under this part throughout the 12 months preceding the date the owner received the environmental investigation report pursuant to paragraph (a) of this section; and,

(iii) In either case, the owner provided the HUD field office, within 10 business days after receiving the notification of the elevated blood lead level, documentation that it has conducted the activities described in this paragraph (f)(3).

(g) Data collection and record keeping responsibilities. At least quarterly, the designated party shall attempt to obtain from the public health department(s) with area(s) of jurisdiction similar to that of the designated party the names and/or addresses of children of less than 6 years of age with an identified elevated blood lead level. At least quarterly, the designated party shall also report an updated list of the addresses of units receiving assistance under a tenant-based rental assistance program to the same public health department(s), except that the report(s) to the public health department(s) is not required if the health department states that it does not wish to receive such report. If it obtains names and addresses of elevated blood lead level children from the public health department(s), the designated party shall match information on cases of elevated blood lead levels with the names and addresses of families receiving tenant-based rental assistance, unless the public health department performs such a matching procedure.

If a match occurs, the designated party shall carry out the requirements of this section.