Reading to Staff $1.3M Lead and Healthy Homes Grant

Reading City Council holds a special meeting Monday, Sept. 21, at 5:00 p.m. to give final passage to two ordinances tied to outside grants. The bigger one would create a city staff position to run a federally funded program that fixes health hazards in homes, backed by a $1,296,998 grant. The second records a $200,000 state housing grant the city already has in hand. Both were introduced at the council's Sept. 3 special meeting, and Monday's meeting is set to consider their enactment.

The lead and healthy-homes position

Bill No. 77-2026 amends the city's 2026 Position Ordinance to create a full-time Healthy Homes Program Specialist. The agenda lists the job as covered under the AFSCME 2763 collective bargaining agreement, at a pay rate of $25.78 an hour. It would be funded primarily by a grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes, with a 10 percent match from the city's General Fund. The position ends when the grant runs out.

HUD's Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes gives cities money to find and fix health hazards in homes. According to the grant memo, the Reading program would remediate hazardous conditions in residences, including radon testing. Lead-based paint, common in older homes, is the classic target of these programs, and Reading has a large stock of older housing.

The bill creates and authorizes the staff position to run the program. The agenda does not describe it as launching a brand-new program, so this preview does not claim more than that.

The state PHARE housing grant

Bill No. 76-2026 amends the 2026 Agency Fund budget. It increases the Contracted Services line (311000-42160) by $200,000 and raises the Fund Balance source by the same amount. The change records a grant from PHARE, the Pennsylvania Housing Affordability and Rehabilitation Enhancement fund, a state program that pays for affordable-housing and home-repair work. According to the agenda, the city's Community Development office received a $200,000 advance on Jan. 31, 2025. The bill puts money the city already has into the budget rather than approving a new award.

This follows other recent housing and blight steps by the city, including its move to enact a vacant-property registry. For more on how the council has been operating this year, see our coverage of the 13 charter questions it pulled from the ballot.

How to weigh in

The special meeting is set for Monday, Sept. 21, at 5:00 p.m. The agenda also lists a Nominations Committee meeting at 4:00 p.m. and a Committee of the Whole at 5:30 p.m. the same evening. Residents who want to attend or comment should check the meeting details and any remote-access options posted on the city's council meeting minutes and agendas page.