The Department of Housing and Urban has granted $1 million to mitigate the impact of lead in White Plains housing.

The funds are going toward older public housing buildings in need of repair, including the removal of lead-based paint hazards. They were first built in the late 1970s.

Mack Carter, the White Plains Housing Authority executive director, identified two of the affected buildings as Schuyler-Dekalb and Lakeview. He says there is lead in the piping and “some of the doors.”

Officials will conduct assessments of each building before they start repairs. Repairs are expected to take 30 months in each of the apartment buildings.

They say the goal is to protect residents, particularly children, from the harmful and sometimes lethal effects of the substance.

"Lead causes all kinds of problems, unfortunately, for children – most notably in the most critical developmental years of their life,” says Lynne Patton, the HUD regional administrator for New York and New Jersey.

Lead has caused stunted growth, developmental delays, kidney failure and disorders in the central nervous system. There are 600 families in the units that could be exposed.