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Photo by Kyle Green | The Roanoke Times

William Spence of D.E. Eakin and Sons makes his way around a site Thursday where the firm is doing lead abatement work.

Project Lead-Safe

If you would like more information on Roanoke's Lead-Safe Program, call (540) 853-5681 or visit www.roanokeva.gov or www.vahealth.org/leadsafe/.

Destiny Lambert, a blond-haired 6-year-old girl, almost died four years ago.

Destiny was poisoned by lead-based paint in a home on Patterson Avenue Southwest. The then-toddler was among 16 children under the age of 6 in Roanoke who had elevated levels of lead in their blood that year, according to the Virginia Department of Health.

Hundreds of pamphlets and $1.5 million in government spending later, nearly 110 homes in Roanoke that once contained hazardous levels of lead are considered safe.

But the money has run out.

As of Jan. 1, Roanoke's federally funded Lead-Safe program will end, and the costs will not be picked up by city taxpayers. City officials haven't decided if they are going to reapply for the grant in the spring, an application process in which Roanoke might already have a disadvantage, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development officials have said.

"It certainly is not out of the ballpark to suggest that they have some explaining to do," said Lee Jones, spokesman for HUD. "They are at a competitive disadvantage, but they are not prohibited from [applying] and they still may find themselves winning a grant."

Even with the program's history of mismanagement and missed deadlines, Roanoke officials are confident in its results.

"Anytime you improve the condition of an individual or family in your community, it has been worthwhile -- you have been successful," said City Manger Darlene Burcham.

But at the same time city officials applaud that progress, the VDH has released data reporting 16 Roanoke children under 6 with elevated lead blood levels in 2006, along with 11 confirmed cases through September.

"The Roanoke area does not have a large number of children at risk; however they do have 'pockets' of high-risk areas," said Nancy Van Voorhis, director of Lead-Safe Virginia. Van Voorhis added that those numbers are preliminary because data collection for all years is ongoing.

The incidence of Roanoke lead-poisoning cases along with an estimated 1,390 homes with lead paint that will still house children by year's end underscores the need for parents to assume more responsibility for protecting small children living in older homes from lead poisoning.

"There are a lot of people who just don't want somebody else in their home, I mean literally," Burcham said. "It also requires the owner of the home to continue to do things to keep the lead-based paint issues abated."

For example, officials added, homeowners are required to put on a top coat of paint after contractors have wet-sanded and primed hazardous areas.

"You are not removing the lead-based paint from the home; you're making it safe," said Roanoke Lead-Safe director Bob Clement.

The end of the program in Roanoke comes at a time when companies across the country have recalled toys with lead-based paint that have poisoned small children who often chew on their playthings.

Toys "can be a contributing cause but this lead hazard in the homes is the critical factor," Van Voorhis said. "It's a chronic exposure; the toys are not everywhere, but the dust is."

In older homes with deteriorating paint, "alligatored" paint inside and outside is a hazard for children. Even dusty, painted window frames can harbor hazardous lead levels.

City officials say that Lead-Safe was never intended to be a panacea to the local lead problem.

Sometimes getting lead out of a home was just too expensive, Clement said, and other times the program required more homeowner participation than the public originally thought.

"It's kind of unreasonable for people to think 'Well, the city is going to come in, and with $1.5 million from the government, is going to solve all of the lead-based paint problems in Roanoke,' " Burcham said.

As of Nov. 1, the city has seven properties undergoing lead-hazard control activities. The city is getting quotes on another two properties and waiting on results from initial lead-hazard risk assessments on another two. There are 31 more properties in various stages of the application process. That is in addition to the 93 homes that are now deemed lead-safe, Clement said.

HUD allocated $1.5 million for the city to spend from 2004 through early 2007 for home repair and educational programs designed to tackle the problem of lead-based paint.

That paint, which was removed from the market about 30 years ago, remains in many homes, posing a threat to the brains and physical development of children who ingest dust or particles.

Lead-Safe was intended to aid in the prevention of such cases, officials said, but it had trouble finishing the homes it promised on time.

The city chose to use a single contractor, shuffled the program between managers and had to file for an extension early this year because it would be unable to finish the 100 homes it had guaranteed as part of the grant, Clement said.

Only 10 percent of grantees have ever had to formally ask for an extension, Jones said.

Roanoke is not the only locality that has had problems managing the Lead-Safe program.

Although Lynchburg was significantly ahead of Roanoke at one point in the number of houses made lead-safe, employees who ran the program might not have properly documented expenses and followed eligibility requirements, according to recent accounts, including those by The News & Advance.

As of September, Lynchburg's program was stopped and subjected to local and federal review.

Now, Roanoke residents will have to lean on educational material to keep their children safe from lead-based paint that coats a large number of area homes.

Total Action Against Poverty, which aided in distributing education material and cleaning kits during the grant process, will continue spreading the word about lead hazards through other programs.

"And we'll always look for money to address a problem, as will the city," said Rick Sheets, associate director for housing and community development at TAP. "When you look at 10 or 11 cases of lead poisonings, those are 10 or 11 children that are profoundly affected."

TAP has about 12 cleaning kits left available to families who qualify, Sheets added.

Destiny and her family still live in Roanoke but they had the home in which they live now tested for lead prior to moving in.

Destiny Lambert no longer has lead in her blood, according to her mother, Sandra Lambert.