A landmark law to proactively address lead-based paint in Louisville rental properties is taking effect this month, aiming to protect thousands of children from a potent neurotoxin.
The ordinance requires property owners to register rental properties built before 1978 into a Lead-Safe Housing Registry. These housing units must complete a lead-hazard risk assessment with a state-certified inspector, and property owners will have to address any lead hazards or face penalties.
The registry is now open to property owners’ submissions, officials with Louisville’s Department of Public Health and Wellness announced Monday.
“Louisville Metro has a lot of older homes and historic homes where lead-based paints still exist,” said Connie Mendel, the department’s chief health strategist, and the registry marks “a giant step” in preventing childhood lead exposure cases before they happen.
The developing brain of young children is particularly vulnerable to the effects of lead, threatening cognitive development, decision-making ability, learning and behavior. Children exposed to lead may struggle in school, score lower on tests, and even incur higher costs for special education programs or, eventually, the justice system.
Nearly 10,000 Louisville children tested with elevated levels of lead in their blood between 2005-21, primarily from exposure to lead-based paint. Lack of testing in recent years has likely obscured additional cases.
Last year, The Courier Journal published a five-part investigation into Louisville’s childhood lead exposure crisis and the harmful effects the poison has levied against the city’s most vulnerable communities, unprotected by local and state regulations for decades. Children in northwest Jefferson County face nearly 10 times the risk of lead exposure compared to those in other parts of the county.
The implementation of the new ordinance could represent the most forceful action in Louisville against childhood lead poisoning this century, following federal bans against the use of lead in paint and gasoline in the late 20th century.
How Louisville’s lead ordinance works
A handprint is left behind after Dr. Brian Guinn, University of Louisville assistant professor of epidemiology, sprayed a lead testing solution around his hand onto the exterior of a house in Louisville’s California neighborhood. When the solution is sprayed on paint that contains lead, the liquid turns red. Aug. 1, 2023
Louisville Metro Council passed the ordinance on lead in rental housing unanimously in 2022, giving public health officials and property owners two years to prepare for its implementation. Cassie Chambers Armstrong, then representing District 8 on the council, sponsored the legislation.
The law requires landlords of housing built before 1978 to search for, and remedy, any lead hazards within a set timeframe, using state-certified inspectors.
Without this proactive element, lead paint hazards in homes were often found only after a child’s exposure. This is too late, experts say: Lead’s poisonous effect on the brain is permanent and irreparable.
“Lead paint is a silent threat, often unnoticed until it’s caused irreversible harm in our children,” said Brian Guinn, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Louisville who has worked with the city to research the extent of local childhood lead exposure.
In general, older properties are at a higher risk of lead paint hazards. Louisville’s ordinance requires property owners to register the inspections of older rental units first.
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Homes built before 1940 must register by Nov. 30, 2025;
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Homes built between 1940-65 must register by Nov. 30, 2026;
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And homes built between 1966 and before 1978 must register by Nov. 30, 2027.
As of Monday morning, about a week into the registry’s opening, officials were still waiting for the first property registration.
As registrations begin to roll in, inspection results will be made available to the public via Louisville Metro’s Open Data Portal, said Patrick Rich, the public health department’s environmental health administrator.
The local real estate industry, which lobbied against key protections in the ordinance, has raised concerns to the department about a lack of certified inspectors to carry out the necessary work. Since the ordinance’s passage two years ago, more than 100 additional inspectors have taken the department’s training, Rich said.
Louisville’s ordinance is modeled, in part, after similar legislation in other U.S. cities, including Rochester, New York. Officials in Rochester pioneered a similar law in 2006 — and within a couple of years, found a decline in the number of children with elevated blood-lead levels by more than 50%.
“By our estimation, Louisville has thousands of properties that are dealing with some type of lead contamination,” Guinn said.
His research has identified thousands of Louisville children with elevated levels of lead in their blood in past decades — “but that doesn’t have to be our city’s destiny. I think this lead registry will go a long way protecting children in the future.”
More on Louisville’s lead crisis: A Heavy Burden: Thousands of Louisville children have been poisoned by lead paint
Connor Giffin is an environmental reporter for The Courier Journal. Reach him directly at cgiffin@gannett.com or on X @byconnorgiffin.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Childhood lead exposure in Louisville could be reduced under new law