Estimated 85,000 Occupied Housing Units In Baltimore Have ‘Dangerous Lead Hazards,’ Report Says
Acording to an April, 2022 report from the Abell Foundation - "Evaluating the Cost of Lead Hazard Control and Abatement in Baltimore City" - there are an estimated 85,087 occupied housing units in Baltimore have “dangerous lead hazards.” The report estimates the total price for lead abatement work on those units could be between $2.5 billion and $4.2 billion. More limited, lead hazard control for all of the units is estimated to cost between $851 million and $1.4 billion.The Maryland Department of the Environment estimated that lead-based paint hazards accounted for 78% of all potential sources of lead exposure in Baltimore in 2021.
The author of the report, Baltimore data scientist Luke Scrivener, estimated that lead hazard control could cost between $10,00 and $17,000 for a typical two-story house, and lead abatement could cost between $30,000 and $50,000. Lead abatement involves removing, replacing, or enclosing areas that have lead paint and other hazards. Lead hazard control simply repairs and repaints the affected areas. The report noted that Baltimore was the first U.S. city to ban lead paint in residential housing in 1951 - some 17 years before a federal ban was enacted in 1978.
The report indicated that there are 2,104 housing units with reported lead violations in Baltimore. However, 1,138 of these are vacant or set to be demolished. For the 966 occupied housing units, lead hazard reduction will cost between $9.7 million and $16.4 million. Lead abatement will cost between $29 million and $48.3 million. The report also estimated that approximately 42% of the 199,338 homes built in Baltimore before 1978 are likely to have significant lead hazards.
The report utilized lead-hazard data from the 2011 American Healthy Homes Survey and neighborhood home values.
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