EAST CHICAGO â The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and other agencies missed multiple opportunities to safeguard residents from lead and arsenic contamination at the West Calumet Housing Complex, according to a federal Inspector General report released Wednesday.Â
The watchdog report by HUD s Office of Inspector General also warned that HUD may be aware of other situations like West Calumet and should be doing more to identify other contaminated housing sites across the country.
Emily Coffey, housing justice staff attorney with the Chicago-based Shriver Center on Poverty Law, said the report confirms it took nearly 40 years for residents to learn what government officials and polluters knew all along about West Calumet Housing Complex site s past.
CT homeowners struggling to pay their mortgage are running out of time
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File photo of a house sold at a foreclosure sale in Bridgeport in 2016.Ned Gerard / Hearst Connecticut Media
As the pandemic drags on, time is running out for many homeowners. People with loans in forbearance have to resume payments this year, likely as soon as the end of March.
It leaves many borrowers with difficult choices either find the money to pay their mortgage, refinance if possible, convince their lender to ease the terms of their loan, or default.
When decision time comes at the end of the current foreclosure moratoriums, millions of people could lose their homes.
Norlite resumes public safety payment to Cohoes after year off
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1of5Buy PhotoMayor Bill Keeler wears a campaign pin as all numbers are calculated for Census Day at Cohoes City Hall on Wednesday, April 8, 2020 in Cohoes, N.Y. (Lori Van Buren/Times Union)Lori Van Buren/Albany Times UnionShow MoreShow Less
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Cohoes will vote Tuesday on a proposed hazardous waste tax that would be paid by the Norlite aggregate plant.Times Union file photoShow MoreShow Less
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4of5Buy PhotoA view of Saratoga Sites public housing with the Norlite plant seen in the far background behind pine trees on Thursday, Jan. 28, 2021, in Cohoes, N.Y. (Paul Buckowski/Times Union)Paul Buckowski/Albany Times UnionShow MoreShow Less
HUD Won t Help With Back Rent Until Eviction Moratoriums Are Gone
Eviction prevention was an eligible use for CARES Act money.until HUD decided that it s not worth preventing evictions until they are under 14 days away. February 10, 2021, 11am PST | LM Ortiz Share
Laura Felts, executive director of United Tenants of Albany, in Albany, New York, had never seen the level of need for housing assistance that she has since last March. Calls to her organization’s hotline have tripled. In a typical year UTA gives out about $60,000 in rental assistance funds. In 2020, it awarded that amount just between October and November. There is no end to the need in sight.