rhode island’s lead hazard mitigation act - ri...
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Lead Hazard Mitigation ActRHODE ISLAND’S
A LOOK AT PROPERTIES IN RI’S URBAN CORE
94% 6% properties built after 1978 and shouldn’t contain lead paintproperties built before 1978
REQUIRED to comply31% NOT REQUIRED
to comply69%Non owner-occupied 1-, 2-, or 3-family
Properties with 4+ units
Owner-occupied
1-, 2-, or 3-family
51,504PROPERTIES
Properties below include single-family, apartment, multi-family, and mixed use only
16,043 Properties 35,461 Properties
NOT COMPLIANT COMPLIANT
COMPLIED by 200920%
Are these REQUIRED properties compliant?
3,174 Single-family
895Apartment
7,670Multi-family
1,049Mixed use
80%DID NOT COMPLY by 2009
12,788 PROPERTIES
Lead Hazard Mitigation ActRHODE ISLAND’S
4,284with EBLL
3,693with EBLL
51% or 17,007living in propertiesNOT REQUIRED to comply
A LOOK AT CHILDREN LIVING IN RI’S URBAN CORE
Kids 6 years old & under, living in pre-1978 properties and screened for lead between 2005 & 2009
49% or 16,051living in properties REQUIRED to comply
63% or 10,122living in NON-COMPLIANT properties
37% or 5,929living in COMPLIANT properties
NO YES
Are these kids living in compliant properties?
# of kids with Elevated BloodLead Levels (EBLL)
7,977 total kids with Elevated Blood Lead Levels of 5 µg/dL or greater* by 2009
Health experts have long known the
serious health problems resulting
from exposure to lead, particularly for
young children.
Children can be exposed to lead from food, water,
paint chips, dirt, dust, or sand in and around their
home. But lead poisoning is preventable, which is
why the state worked to strengthen lead poisoning
prevention efforts with the Lead Hazard Mitigation
Law enacted in 2005. Under the law, rental property
owners must attend a lead hazard awareness class,
inspect rental properties, fix lead hazards, provide
tenants information about lead hazards and a copy
of the inspection report, respond to tenant concerns
about any lead hazards and use lead-safe work
practices when performing any maintenance.
Given Rhode Island’s aging housing stock, the law has
the potential to increase the healthiness and quality of
housing in the state, but a great number of properties
remain exempt from the law and the protections
it offers to residents. This Issue Brief will examine
the impact of that law on childhood lead exposure
in Rhode Island and identify ways to prevent lead
poisoning in our children.
I N T R O D U C T I O N
A LOOK AT RHODE ISLAND’S
LEAD HAZARD MITIGATION LAW
A Look at Rhode Island’s Lead Hazard Mitigation Law • ProvPlan
AS SEEN IN THE ADJACENT INFOGRAPHIC, THE STUDY OF AT RISK PROPERTIES CONCLUDED THAT:
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR CHILDREN LIVING IN AT RISK PROPERTIES IN THE URBAN CORE? THE STUDY OF AT RISK KIDS CONCLUDED THAT:
K E Y F I N D I N G S
A Look at Rhode Island’s Lead Hazard Mitigation Law • ProvPlan
u Most properties in the urban core were built before 1978 and are considered
potential risks for lead poisoning. ProvPlan looked at nearly all residential
properties in Central Falls, Pawtucket, Providence, and Woonsocket for this study.
94 percent of the residential properties we studied were built before 1978, meaning
paint at the property may contain lead paint that could poison children.
u Even though these properties pose potential risks, most are not required to
comply with the law. Our findings show that less than one third of properties
built before 1978 were required to comply with the law. The remaining 69 percent
of properties studied were owner-occupied single-family homes and multi-family
properties with two or three units and were not required to comply with the law.
u Of the 16,043 properties that were required to comply with the law, only 20
percent had complied within the first five years of the law’s implementation. By
2012, we found that 30 percent of properties had gotten at least one certificate, but
some of these properties may have only become compliant after a lead poisoning
had occurred.
u More than half of the children screened between 2005 and 2009 were living in
properties that were not required to comply with the law.
u Of children living in homes required to comply, the majority live in non
compliant homes.
u In our study analysis, blood lead levels were significantly reduced in children
living in properties where landlords were fully compliant with the Lead Hazard
Mitigation Law. This suggests that if more properties complied with the law, more
children would benefit.
In 2011 ProvPlan began researching the effectiveness of the state’s Lead Hazard Mitigation Law.
First we worked to identify the number
of properties required to comply with
the Lead Hazard Mitigation Act and the
number of those properties that were
actually in compliance.
Then we analyzed whether the
regulations have helped reduce the
number of children poisoned by lead at
those properties.
We then focused on properties that
are exempt from the law to see how
many of these properties still house
lead-exposed children.
We focused our analysis on residential properties in the four core cities in Rhode Island: Central Falls, Pawtucket, Providence, and Woonsocket. These cities comprise much of the state’s oldest housing stock—a risk factor for lead-based paint exposure. These cities historically have also had higher rates of childhood lead exposure.
We excluded properties built during or after 1978 and included four main property types: one-family residences, two- to five-family residences, apartments, and commercial and residential mixed-use buildings. The findings in this Issue Brief measure incidences of lead exposure from 2005 through 2009.
ABOUT OUR STUDYEven small amounts of lead in the blood can compromise
cognition, behavior, growth, and development. Lead can
also contribute to anemia, elevated blood pressure, kidney
damage, muscle weakness, and brain damage. Young children
are more at risk of these negative effects because their smaller
bodies absorb more lead than adults and their developing
brains are at greater risk of lasting complications.
Although average blood lead levels have greatly decreased in recent
decades, childhood lead poisoning still occurs today. According to the
RI Department of Health, incidence of children’s blood lead levels of
5 micrograms per deciliter or greater (the current CDC reference level
for lead) decreased from 19% in 2003 to 4% in 2013. While these recent
poisoning rates seem acceptably low, a statewide incidence rate of 4% still
means that 1,002 children in Rhode Island who had never previously
been lead poisoned were newly exposed in 2013.
The Lead Hazard Mitigation Law was intended to decrease lead exposure
risks and reduce the number of poisoned children. The law requires that
landlords of non-owner-occupied buildings built before 1978 that have
more than three units take a 3-hour lead hazard awareness class, assess
and fix any hazards to the property, perform lead-safe maintenance
practices and obtain the certificate from a proper inspector. Many
properties remain exempt from the law including:
uowner-occupied single-family homes;
u owner-occupied multi-family homes with three or fewer units;
u homes that have received Lead Safe or Lead Free (LSLF) certificates;
u temporary or seasonal units;
u and elderly housing.
ProvPlan studied residential properties in the four cities that have
traditionally had the highest rates of childhood lead exposure – Central
Falls, Pawtucket, Providence, and Woonsocket – to see if the law was
preventing children from lead exposure.
M O R E A B O U T T H E L E A D H A Z A R D M I T I G AT I O N L A W
A Look at Rhode Island’s Lead Hazard Mitigation Law • ProvPlan
Lead Technical Study ISSUE BRIEF • Providence Plan
For children, even mild lead poisoning
can permanently affect their attention
span and IQ. With such devastating
and lasting impacts, preventing lead
exposure in our young children is
imperative.
The good news is that the Lead Hazard Mitigation Law
can work in preventing childhood lead exposure when
fully implemented. Blood lead levels were significantly
reduced in children living at properties where
landlords were fully compliant with the Lead Hazard
Mitigation Law. But in the four cities where children
are most at risk for lead exposure, only 20 percent
of the properties required under state law to protect
tenants from lead exposure had done so by 2009. Even
more troubling, the widespread exemptions from the
law mean that more than one in five children living in
homes without a certificate of compliance have had at
least one elevated blood lead level.
Policymakers must address the risk that lead poses in
all residential properties built before 1978. In addition,
the state must ensure that resources are available to
not only fully implement the current law, but to assist
property owners with protecting their tenants from
lead exposure and obtaining a certificate of compliance.
Only when the state works to fully implement the
Lead Hazard Mitigation Law will we ensure that all of
our children can grow up healthy, ready to learn and
become active participants in Rhode Island’s future.
P O L I C Y C O N S I D E R AT I O N S
A Look at Rhode Island’s Lead Hazard Mitigation Law • ProvPlan
THE HIDDEN COST OF LEAD POISONING
Elevated blood lead levels can have lasting impacts on children’s
readiness for school. For example, a study of Rhode Island
children who had been exposed to lead were two times less
likely to be reading ready upon entering kindergarten than those
without lead exposure.1
What’s more, researchers estimate that one in five children with
very high levels of lead exposure will need special education
services upon entering school. These students may require up to
three years of special education and these interventions can be
costly. During the 2010 school year Rhode Island school districts
each spent, on average, $9.2 million for special education and
$3,301 per pupil receiving special education.2
The cost of lead poisoning goes beyond these special education
services. Nationally it is estimated that the medical treatment
costs of treating children under the age of six who have elevated
blood lead levels ranges from $10.8 to $53.1 million annually,3
depending on the severity of lead poisoning. This does not
factor in behavioral treatment. And because lead poisoning
can have lasting consequences, the lifetime earnings loss due
to lead exposure has been estimated from $165 to $233 billion
nationwide.4
1 McLaine, P., Navas-Acien, A., Diener-West, M., Simon, P., & Agnew, J. (2009). Elevated Blood Lead Levels Negatively Impact Kindergarten Reading Readiness. Epidemiology. Vol. 20. Iss. 6. http://goo.gl/5OhSWe 2 Rhode Island Department of Education, Uniform Charts of Accounting. FY2010. http://goo.gl/sStesd
3 Childhood Lead Poisoning: Conservative Estimates of the Social and Economic Benefits of Lead Hazard Control. Gould, Elise; Environmental Health Perspectives, March 2009. 4 Cutting Lead Poisoning and Public Costs. Partnership for America’s Economic Success Issue Brief#14. The Pew Center on The States, February 2010.
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