Creating Government and Academic Partnerships to Address Lead based paint Exposure and Housing Discrimination

There is no safe level of lead exposure for children. Lead exposure at a Blood lead level of 5 and above has been shown to impact a child’s IQ, can result in developmental delay, learning disabilities and is associated with behavior problems making lead paint in housing a multi-sector health equity issue disproportionately impacting families of color in discrimination and children of color’s health outcomes.

Families with children disproportionately experience discrimination based on the presence of lead paint. The City of Boston’s Office of Fair Housing and Equity (FHE) often sees cases of housing discrimination cases that are not only based of the presence of lead paint, these households are often section 8 recipients. Research demonstrates children exposed to lead yield lower state test performance than children not exposed to lead.

FHE has brought together city, academic, private, and public stakeholders to develop an action plan for increasing awareness that lead is still a problem in Boston. Partners of this initiative have come together to develop strategies for reducing housing discrimination families face related to lead paint, increasing lead safe housing, lead safe renovations, and reducing the number of children with elevated lead levels. FHE will demonstrate through collaborative partnerships, it is possible to address remaining lead paint in Boston housing and eliminate disproportionately discriminations and lead paint exposure based health inequities in children of color.