Evanston received another line of defense against lead poisoning in July after the city was awarded $373,047 to spend on lead abatement and mitigation activities in high-risk houses.
The money was part of more than $5 million dished out by the Cook County Department of Public Health to various communities to rehabilitate homes with high levels of lead. Money for lead abatement purposes has been distributed since 2002, and this is the second year that Evanston has received funds.
“In order to protect your child and to make sure that they grow up healthy, (lead-poisoning) prevention is extremely important,” said Alisa Dean, the city’s community intervention coordinator. “That’s why the money is so important.”
One of the reasons Evanston received the money is because the city’s housing stock is much older when compared to neighboring communities, said Jay Terry, director of the Health and Human Services Department.
Older houses are more likely to have lead-based paint. According to the National Lead Information Clearinghouse, more than 80 percent of all homes built before 1978 in the U.S. have lead-based paint in them.
Other funding recipients were Chicago, Oak Park and an umbrella organization that serves the entire county.
City officials use blood tests from children to determine whether a home has a high amount of lead. Children are tested when they enter the school system, Dean said, or can be tested at any time through local hospitals and clinics. So far, the city has used some of the the money to remove lead from four homes.
Cook County has an older housing stock than the rest of the nation, said Geneva Edwards, director of the county’s Lead Poisoning Prevention Unit. Forty-three percent of the county’s housing was built before 1950, but only 22 percent nationwide were built before that date.
Evanston has a “three-pronged approach” to dealing with lead, Terry said.
The city’s nursing staff works with children who may have been exposed to high levels of lead. At the same time, environmental employees work with property owners and renters to raise lead awareness, and the city’s Community Development Department has some building rehabilitation programs.
The county grant is welcome because there is not much money for lead abatement purposes, Terry said. Recent federal legislation puts more pressure on communities to try to remove lead from their housing stock.
“It’s not an awful problem, but we have enough cases each year,” Terry said. “We wanted to take advantage of the funding opportunity because we certainly have them given the older housing community.”
Reach Mike Cherney at [email protected].
Quick facts:
The Cook County Department of Health dished out more than $5 million to communities for rehabilitating homes with high levels of lead.
Evanston was awarded $373,047. It is the second year the city received such funds.
Other recipients were Chicago, Oak Park and an umbrella organization that serves the entire county.
43 percent of the housing in Cook County was built before 1950. Older houses are more likely to have lead-based paint.
City officials use blood tests from children to determine whether a home has a high amount of lead.
