Dallas council members request an audit of failed lead abatement program

Two Dallas council members requested an audit into the city’s failed $2.3 million lead removal program after The Dallas Morning News investigated its outcome, which left multiple residents exposed to lead.
District 13 council member Gay Donnell Willis and District 1 council member Chad West sent a memorandum on Sept. 16 to City Auditor Mark Swann asking him to add the program to his work plan and examine it more closely.
“The audit should focus on identifying the causes of program delays, inefficiencies in executing lead removal, and the lack of contractor availability in Dallas versus other cities where the program has been successful. It should also assess communication with residents and other stakeholders throughout the process,” read the memo.
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Willis and West did not respond to a request for comment.
The News reached out to Cynthia Rogers-Ellickson, interim director of the housing and neighborhood revitalization department, and Thor Erickson, the department’s assistant director, via email but they did not respond to a request for comment.
The city’s communication department said via email the managers in the housing department were aware of the audit and would assist the auditor in his review and provide any information requested.
The Office of the City Auditor’s Recommended Fiscal Year 2025 Audit Work Plan includes an audit of the lead abatement program. The work plan will be subject to final approval by the full City Council on Oct. 23. After the Work Plan is approved, the audit will be scheduled to start when audit resources are available, said Swann via email.
The Dallas Housing and Revitalization Department won a federal grant in 2018 of $2.3 million to remove lead from homes. The grant was intended to target homes built before 1978, primarily homes with children under the age of 6 because their health is particularly vulnerable to lead exposure.
More than 90 residents applied for the program, but only 53 homes were inspected, and only four residents had contractors remove lead from their homes during the three-year program, The News reported.
Loucious Miller, 66, a resident whose home was part of the lead program and who called it a “scam,” said he would be willing to talk to any city officials and invite them to his home to show them the poor job done on his property.
The city spent about $400,000 from the grant, while about $1.8 million remained unused, according to a report submitted to the federal government earlier this year. The city returned most of the funds, leaving multiple residents exposed to the effects of lead.
The housing department told residents the program was closed due to a lack of certified lead abatement contractors. The city gave The News a different explanation: The program required a standalone approach to administering the grant, which required additional staff time and program requirements.
Tonya Skinner, 55, is one of the residents who applied and qualified for lead abatement but never received help after waiting more than two years. She said this is the right step for city officials to look into the mismanagement of the federal grant.
All that Skinner wants is to have a lead-free home for her and her grandchildren in southern Dallas.
Exposure to lead can seriously harm a child’s health and result in damage to the brain and nervous system, slowed growth and development, learning and behavioral problems, and hearing and speech problems, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“I hope this sheds some light on what happened because it just hurt me how all of a sudden, they [the housing department] didn’t give me no information, no answers, no nothing,” said Skinner.