Syracuse and Utica will be getting more money to remove lead from homes.

About $1 million is now going to the Utica Housing Authority while Syracuse gets about $160,000. 

U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson actually visited Central New York last month to talk about the issue of lead in homes.

"I knew Syracuse has a lot of aging housing and that this was a signifcant problem here,” Carson said during his visit. “I think this is a problem we can actually solve. This is an excellent laboratory to see if we can get this completely under control."

City leaders say Syracuse had the nation's highest percentage of children with lead poisoning between 2009 and 2015. 

They're trying to pass an ordinance so code enforcement officers can perform dust wipe tests in the interior and exterior of all rental properties.