By Matt Sepic, KWMU
St. Louis – U.S. Senator Kit Bond said Monday he wants to direct $15 million of federal money to a lead paint cleanup program in St. Louis.
Grace Hill Neighborhood Health Centers and a community advisory board are developing a plan to remove lead paint from city homes. Most of St. Louis' housing stock was built prior to 1978, when indoor lead paint was banned.
Bond said children in the city are more susceptible to lead poisoning than those elsewhere.
"St. Louis city is way above the national average," Bond said. "31 percent of the children in St. Louis city have unacceptably high levels of lead."
Bond chairs a Senate subcommittee that funds the Department of Housing and Urban Development. He wants the agency to put $5 million into the lead abatement effort for each of the next three years.
The program is scheduled to begin next year.