SALT LAKE CITY — It's been nearly 50 years since lead-based paint was banned in home construction, but its impact lives on, with health experts claiming it remains especially dangerous for kids.
“It can cause a lot of developmental issues,” explained Amanda Best, policy program manager for the Salt Lake City Housing Stability Division.
Candice Briese, a health educator with Salt Lake County Lead Prevention poison program, took things a step further.
“Aggressive behavior, we’re gonna see decreased IQ. We’re gonna see slowed growth.”
Salt Lake City is attempting to ensure that residents who still have lead-based paint in their homes have every opportunity to get rid of it. With a $4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the city plans to help eradicate the paint in up to 300 units.
“If [residents are] eligible, and once they’re eligible, we'll go to the house, we'll do an inspection for free," said Best. "We’ll figure out what needs to be done, and then we can help mitigate all of those led hazards.”
The city has already removed the paint through its Home Repair Program, but the grant will speed up the process, which is important because representatives are still finding lead in surprising places
“We found a significant amount of lead in car keys, and I know that that’s kind of something that parents tend to let their kids play with as a distractor, so we wanna really encourage that that’s not happening,” Briese said.
Briese added that the moves are an effort to remind people how lead poisoning is still prominent in homes.
“Just that it’s still the problem in the community people think that this was something that was an issue a long time ago.”
Salt Lake City encourages low-income households with children under the age of six to apply for the lead paint removal program, while Salt Lake County also has resources for those who are interested and live outside city limits. The county also has an application for their Lead Safe Housing Program for eligible residents.
