Indiana agency OKs $2M to secure, demolish East Chicago site

EAST CHICAGO, Ind. (AP) - An Indiana agency has approved $2 million to secure and demolish a public housing complex in East Chicago that residents must vacate because of soil contaminated with lead and arsenic.

The board of the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority approved the funding Thursday for the West Calumet Housing Complex. Gov. Eric Holcomb requested the funding in his recent declaration of a disaster emergency for the federal Superfund site.

IHCDA board chair Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch says that once the dozens of families remaining at the complex have been relocated, the funding "will go toward boarding up windows and doors, securing the property and demolition once it can begin."

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Monday it's preparing to begin remediation work at the 322-acre Superfund site including the complex.