EAST CHICAGO, Ind. (AP) _ A new joint agreement between federal agencies aims to deal with lead contamination of subsidized housing in the wake of the crisis in East Chicago that has led to the relocation of more than 1,000 people and remediation across the Calumet neighborhood.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Environmental Protection Agency signed the agreement Wednesday, giving the agencies more proactive means to test and clean up contaminated public housing complexes and subsidized multifamily housing on or near Superfund sites.

President-elect Donald Trump nominated Ben Carson, a neurosurgeon and a former Republican presidential candidate, to lead the federal housing and urban development department.

Carson said during a U.S. Senate hearing Thursday that he would continue to relocate families from East Chicago’s West Calumet Housing Complex if confirmed as the new secretary for the federal agency.