Albany County Childhood Lead Poisoning Primary Prevention Program (CLPPPP)

The National Center for Healthy Housing (NCHH) has been providing technical assistance and evaluation support to the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) Childhood Lead Poisoning Primary Prevention Program (CLPPPP) since the inception of the initiative in 2007. Each of the 15 grantee programs operates within a unique local landscape that impacts the distinct challenges they face and successes they accomplish.
As a CLPPP Program grantee, the Albany County CLPPPP program seeks to achieve five goals:
1. Identify housing at greatest risk of lead-based paint hazards.
2. Develop partnerships and community engagement to promote primary prevention.
3. Promote interventions to create lead-safe housing units.
4. Build lead-safe work practices (LSWP) workforce capacity.
5. Identify community resources for lead-hazard control.

Since 2007, Albany County CLPPPP has worked with property owners to complete the removal and clearance of lead paint hazards from housing identified in a specific target area that includes ZIP codes 12202, 12206, 12208, 12209, and 12210 located in the city of Albany. Within these ZIP codes, the program targets the highest-risk properties, including but not limited to homes of at-risk newborns and pregnant women, homes of resettled refugees, units where children with blood lead levels between 5–9 or 10–14 μg/dL reside or units adjacent to them, units with a history of children with elevated blood lead levels or other units in the same building, and vacant, foreclosed properties. The program also inspects properties because of referrals from partner agencies and provider offices (OB/GYN and pediatric offices in particular), direct requests from owners or tenants, requests as a result of advertising (e.g., bus kiosks), and/or door-to-door canvassing.

An EPA-certified risk assessor from the county performs a visual inspection of painted surfaces in the individual unit, common areas, and exterior of the building and uses an XRF (x-ray fluorescence) analyzer to measure the concentration of lead on painted surfaces. The assessor may also take soil samples or wipe surfaces to collect dust to analyze its lead concentration (dust wipes are collected after the final inspection when all hazards have been corrected at during an initial inspection only if no interior hazards are found). Residents receive educational materials and cleaning products as incentives to encourage their participation.

Lead paint dust created during renovation work can substantially increase children’s exposure to lead. Albany County works to address this problem by training landlords, homeowners, and contractors in lead-safe work practices. This training focuses on reducing the amount of dust generated during paint-disturbing work, containing any dust generated, and thoroughly cleaning the jobsite after work to remove any lead-contaminated dust.