Residents in an affordable housing complex in East Chicago, Indiana will relocate after the Environmental Protection Agency discovered dangerous levels of lead contamination on the property.
According to The Young Turks, West Calumet apartment residents received a letter from East Chicago Mayor Anthony Copeland nearly three weeks ago stating that they would be forcibly removed.
The letter revealed that the housing units were built over three now-defunct lead factories torn down by 1972.
After the EPA assessed the situation, they discovered that the lead contamination was too severe and advised children to not play on the grass.
Officials subsequently handed out fliers to residents, put up caution signs and put down mulch as a stop-gap measure to protect children.
Copeland informed residents that the Department of Housing and Urban Development would provide them with relocation vouchers, per a Post-Tribune report.
In the news clip by Young Turks Politics, reporters asked residents and community leaders what’s next for them.
“I think what we are going to expose is people who put greed over health, personal politics over safety,” Bishop Travis Grant says. ” Somebody — like they did in Flint, Michigan — fudged some numbers or didn’t release a report. And to have 360 residencies demolished by January 1, is just a huge loss to this community.”
