Sec. 2. Congressional findings
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The Congress finds that— according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2014 approximately 995,600 or 4 percent of children under the age of 6 in the United States had elevated blood lead levels above the CDC reference value of 5 micrograms per deciliter (μg/dL); there is no safe level of lead poisoning; according to the CDC, the effects of lead poisoning are immediate and permanent—childhood exposure to lead, even at very low levels, can have lifelong consequences, including decreased IQ and cognitive function, developmental delays, and behavioral problems; higher exposures to lead at a young age can cause seizures, coma, and even death; according to the National Housing Law Project, there are over 90,400 children in the United States living in housing assisted under the Housing Choice Voucher Program who have lead poisoning and there are an additional 340,000 children living in federally assisted housing who are at risk; under current program rules, children whose families participate in the Housing Choice Voucher Program must develop lead poisoning before a lead hazard risk assessment occurs;
Columbia University estimates the potential societal costs of lead poisoning in the Housing Choice Voucher Program to be almost $1.2 billion; and while some localities have required property owners to conduct risk assessments and abate lead when a child under the age of 6 will reside in a dwelling unit, there has been evidence that such policies led to augmented instances of housing discrimination on the basis of familial status, making housing opportunities less available for families with children and increasing the risk of homelessness for such families.