Federal funding will help Pennsylvanians reduce lead in homes | The Pennsylvania Independent
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Pennsylvania has a lot of older homes that were painted before the federal government banned the use of lead paint on residences. (Anna Gustafson)

Eight Pennsylvania communities will receive about $43 million in federal funding to reduce exposure to lead, which can lead to irreversible health problems for children living in the state’s vast stock of aging housing.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced on Oct. 8 that Allegheny County, Allentown, Harrisburg, the city of Lancaster, Philadelphia, Delaware County, Montgomery County, and the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Erie received a combined total of around $43 million to eliminate lead in homes that were built before 1978, the year the federal government banned the residential use of lead-based paint.

Local government officials and individuals working with families affected by lead poisoning welcomed the funding, saying it will help them in their decadeslong quest to eliminate exposure to lead, a highly toxic metal once commonly used in paint and plumbing pipes. Lead poisoning can lead to a wide array of health problems, including anemia, kidney and brain damage, and even death, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Children who have suffered from severe lead poisoning, such as by ingesting dust from lead paint, may face permanent intellectual disabilities and behavioral disorders, the World Health Organization reports. The WHO and the National Center for Healthy Housing note that lead exposure can lead to a reduced intelligence quotient (IQ), increased antisocial behavior, and reduced academic achievement.

There were 7,332 Pennsylvania children under the age of 6 who tested positive for what the CDC defines as elevated blood lead levels in 2022, the most recent year data is available, according to the state Department of Health. The Lead-Free Promise Project, a coalition of organizations that fights childhood lead poisoning, said the actual number of children poisoned by lead in Pennsylvania is likely much higher because only 18% of the state’s children are tested for lead each year.

Neil Ruhland, deputy press secretary with the state Department of Health, told the Pennsylvania Independent that lead-based paint is often the most significant source of lead exposure in young children in states with older homes, like Pennsylvania.

With the HUD funding, counties and cities will be able to safely get rid of lead-based paint in homes and provide education for families about seeking support and testing for lead poisoning. The funding comes as the Biden-Harris administration works to address lead hazards throughout the country and provides federal funding to replace lead pipes.

“By controlling the source of lead poisoning, we are creating a safe space for our children,” said Janet Panning, a former Montgomery County public health official who is now a consultant at the Lead-Free Promise Project at the nonprofit organization Children First PA. “Instead of using our children like the proverbial canary in the coal mine, where we identify poisoned kids and then clean up our properties, our goal is to have every home a safe place, a property that is lead-safe, or lead-free when the child arrives in the home.”

Pennsylvania has one of the country’s largest stocks of houses built before 1950, the recently released 2022 Childhood Lead Surveillance Annual Report from the state Department of Health notes. The Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency said in a 2020 report that more than half of the commonwealth’s housing is more than 50 years old. That abundance of older homes makes it especially critical and challenging for Pennsylvania officials to address lead exposure, local government officials said.

Lauren Connelly, the director of economic development for Allegheny County, said the HUD funding will allow the western Pennsylvania county that’s home to Pittsburgh to conduct lead inspections in at least 180 units over the next four years. At least 175 of those are expected to be made lead-safe, Connelly said.

Connelly noted that Allegheny County received $5.6 million in HUD funding in 2020 to remove lead, and the increase to $7.75 million in this year’s grant is especially appreciated in a county where 75% of the housing stock was built before 1978 and 26% before 1940.

“We’ll really be able to really go out and work with more units across Allegheny County thanks to the increased award,” Connelly said.

Aaron Snippert, the executive director of the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Erie, said the $4.7 million grant to his organization will help to remove lead in about 145 units in Erie County.

Since 2003, workers have conducted lead removal at about 1,500 homes in Erie County with the help of federal grant funding — but there are thousands more that still need to be remediation, Snippert said.

“We have a long road ahead of us, and we continue to advocate and look for additional funding,” Snippert said. “We have a substantial amount of housing stock left to do, and it’s never-ending, and I don’t think it’ll be in my lifetime that we’ll see lead remediated in every house in the city of Erie.”

That slow process of removing lead isn’t for a lack of trying. The city of Erie has received seven federal grants in addition to state funding for lead removal. City workers regularly attend community meetings in order to connect with people living in older, more dilapidated homes, Snippert said. Simply put, it takes a lot of time and money to ensure homes are safe from lead.

As county and city officials work to address the ongoing challenges, advocates are pushing for other state lawmakers to focus on lead. Often, lead-poisoned children do not exhibit any immediately apparent symptoms, leaving parents unaware that they’ve been exposed to lead and need treatment. The Lead-Free Promise Project, which is funded by the state health department, would like to see a statewide requirement that children be tested for lead. Currently, only Philadelphia and Allegheny counties require children to be tested for lead.

Legislation has been introduced in both the Pennsylvania Senate and the Pennsylvania House to require blood screening for lead exposure of all children by the age of 2. The bill passed out of a Senate committee with bipartisan support in June of 2023 but has yet to be voted on by the full Senate. The House version was introduced in September of this year and remains in committee.

“Our goal is to try to identify kids as soon as possible, as soon as they start putting their hands in their mouth and reaching surfaces that might contain lead, to get them tested before they’ve had much lead exposure so that they are not further impacted by lead,” Panning said.

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