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Lead Hazard Program Telephone: (602) 602-495-0700 E-mail: rehab.nsd@phoenix.gov The Phoenix Lead Hazard Control Program remediates lead hazards in privately-owned housing using a grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The purpose of the program is to prevent childhood lead poisoning by creating lead-safe housing. Program partners are the Arizona Department of Health Services and Maricopa County Department of Public Health Services. The program provides comprehensive lead services including testing of the home, control of the lead hazards found, parent education, blood lead testing of children in the home, and temporary relocation during lead work, if indicated. |
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Childhood Lead Poisoning Childhood lead poisoning is the most common environmental disease of children and is entirely preventable. Lead is a metal commonly found in many products in industrialized countries and serves no known function in the human body. Although it is toxic to all systems of the body, the greatest concern is for its effects on the nervous systems of young children, even when levels are low. Lead can harm the brain and other organs and is most harmful to children because of their smaller developing bodies. Pregnant women and their unborn babies are also at high risk. Even a small amount of lead can be very harmful. Children become lead poisoned by eating paint chips (deteriorating lead-based paint that is peeling, chipping, chalking, cracking or damaged); lead in house dust and soil (playing on the floor and in dirt then putting their hands in their mouth); or by ingesting folk medicines, some Mexican candy or food cooked in some types of Mexican pottery. Lead-based paint in older homes (built before 1978), with peeling paint, is the most common source of lead poisoning. Peeling lead paint and unsafe removal of lead paint all contribute to lead in house dust and soil. Homes undergoing renovation or remodeling are particularly dangerous. To learn more about childhood lead poisoning and other environmental concerns, go to: |
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Eligibility Eligibility requirements for enrollment of a property include: pre-1978 construction, low-income residents, child resident under the age of six years (or pregnant woman resident), and geographic location in a targeted area of the city. The geographic requirement is waived in the case of a resident child with an elevated blood lead level. All services are free. |
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Comprehensive Services The Lead Hazard Control Program helps homeowners, landlords and tenants in targeted areas control hazards from lead in paint, soil and dust. Residents must have a low-to-moderate income level to qualify for assistance, the inhabitants must include a child under age six, and the residence must have been constructed before 1978. The program is also a source of information about prevention of childhood lead poisoning.
Depending on the nature and extent of the work performed, a brief temporary relocation of the residents may be required. In these cases, temporary living arrangements are coordinated by program staff and provided without charge to the residents. |
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Lead Safe Rental Registry The city of Phoenix Lead Hazard Control Program developed a Lead Safe Rental Registry List to make it easier for agencies and families with young children to locate housing that has been made “lead safe” by program activities. Properties listed in the Registry were determined to be “lead safe” following their participation in the program or through re-certification testing for the registry. To be eligible for the Registry, the property must have received lead hazard control services within the last two years. The property will be listed on the Registry for two years from the date the work was completed. The city of Phoenix has no control over and makes no warranties regarding activities that the landlord, management, or residents may have taken since the testing which might have disturbed lead-based paint and/or normal deterioration that might have rendered the unit lead contaminated since the test date. |
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Lead Links |