robert.samuels@roanoke.com 981-3340

Patricia Gold knew the house she and her four children moved into was old.

But she didn't think it might be dangerous.

"I'm on the lookout now," said Gold, 27, who lives in the 500 block of Rutherford Avenue Northwest in Roanoke. "And I'm hoping for the best."

Gold's youngest child, Sade, tested positive for lead poisoning in October. It was a shock for Gold, because her daughter "looked fine." Now, Gold said she constantly monitors where her children play, makes certain she provides them a balanced diet and is aware of the potential dangers in her house, built in 1952.

Gold's family is an example of those who might benefit from the $2 million Lead-Safe Roanoke initiative. The program is funded mostly by an unprecedented $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as part of a national effort to remove lead from all houses by 2010.

Gold receives Section 8 vouchers, which are provided through HUD, from the Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority to help her pay rent. When she moved in, representatives from Hall Associates, which manages the property, gave her a disclosure form stating the house was built before the 1978 ban on lead paint. But Gold wasn't worried.

"I thought Section 8 properties were safe," Gold said. "I had no idea that my child would still be in danger of lead."

The maximum accepted blood lead level for children younger than 6 years is 10 micrograms per deciliter of blood, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Four-year-old Sade tested at 18 micrograms.

"I couldn't believe it," Gold said.

When the Roanoke Health Department learns a child has a blood lead level higher than 15 micrograms, it sends Sheila Tinsley, Roanoke's public health nurse coordinator.

For 11 years, Tinsley has visited potentially dangerous homes to teach parents how to be lead-safe. She is not affiliated with Lead-Safe Roanoke.

"This city really has beautiful children," Tinsley said. "They deserve safe places to live."

Putting aside scientific jargon, Tinsley said she keeps things simple and interesting. She teaches parents about balanced diets and how to clean for lead hazards, sometimes crawling on house floors to show parents how to look for chipping paint "at the child's level."

That's when Gold began noticing the paint. Sade couldn't get to her upstairs bedroom without touching the flaking paint on the stairwell. She also liked to play with her toys on the front porch, where just a week ago the columns' cracked paint was so brittle it would fall off when touched. Lead experts say this is dangerous because children may breathe lead dust when the paint crumbles.

Now, Sade tells people, "I'm the one with lead poisoning."

Brian Sullivan, a spokesman for HUD, said all federally subsidized housing - including Section 8 units - "must pass rigorous inspections."

Earl Saunders, the housing authority's housing management director, said cursory inspections are done once a year on Section 8 units. Inspectors check for running water, heat and sections of houses that might have more than 2 feet of exposed lead-based paint.

Because of these inspections, Section 8 units are not Lead-Safe Roanoke's top priority, said the program's manager, Carolyn Coles.

"We concentrate more on privately owned properties and rentals," Coles said. "There are separate funds for Section 8 houses, and I think most [of those] houses have been cleared of danger, but they can still apply for the program to look at their houses."

Gold dealt with her house's issues through property managers and city inspectors.

In May, city inspector Dan Durham reported that the Rutherford Avenue house failed its biennial code inspection because it had "excessive flaking paint." The file says Durham handed Gold a "Keep Your Child Lead Safe" handbook. He didn't perform a lead wipe test, because it's not part of a building inspector's responsibilities.

On July 23, The Roanoke Times contacted Hall Associates, city code enforcement and the housing authority officials about Gold's situation. On Monday, Durham and a health department representative checked the house again and noted little had been done since the last inspection. The health department told Gold it would test the house for lead July 30.

In the four days between the inspection and scheduled lead test, Hall Associates sent Archie Wells to paint the staircase in Gold's house, the exterior and the porch.

"I don't think there's much lead paint on the outside," Wells said. "I've been doing this for 35 years, and I know lead paint when I see it. The stairwell looked like it had a problem."

As Wells painted, Gold started getting suspicious.

"I've been here for four years and they haven't done any repairs," Gold said.

Dana Walker, who manages the Rutherford property, said renovations had been planned since Durham's citation in May. He added that the office didn't know about Sade's lead exposure until an interview with The Roanoke Times. After that conversation, Walker called the housing authority to find out why.

"It is our understanding from talking to the housing authority that the child's [lead] levels went back down," Walker said. "That's probably why they ... hadn't encouraged us to do anything."

In May, Sade's blood lead levels tested at 12 micrograms. Although the CDC says more than 10 micrograms of lead warrants concern, guidelines from HUD allow Section 8 units to pass inspection as long as a child doesn't test at more than 15 micrograms twice in three months. A child who tests at 20 micrograms, however, calls for immediate action.

So children living in Section 8 housing could have lead poisoning, but not to the point where unit managers would be obligated to correct problems. Still, Walker sent Wells to paint the house.

By the time Kristen Kidd, prevention specialist from the CDC, came to do the lead wipe test on Gold's house, the chipping and flaking paint was covered.

Kidd said she anticipates the results will come back negative, leaving Gold with no proof that the house poisoned Sade.