When the Porters moved into their new three-story Mulberry Street home in Scottdale in January, they knew they would have to do some repairs.
The century-old home needed new windows, and its third floor required significant work to make it habitable. What they did not count on was that the home was potentially unsafe for them and their three young children.
The house is one of thousands throughout Westmoreland County built before lead-based paint was outlawed in 1978.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a child’s exposure to lead can cause damage to the brain and nervous system, slowed growth and development, learning and behavior problems, and hearing and speech deficiencies.
Westmoreland County’s Lead Safe program, instituted in 2021, made the Porters’ home safe. And they did not pay a dime to do so.
The county covered the cost to remediate and remove lead by replacing dozens of windows, installing new subflooring, putting in new baseboards and repainting the basement and the outside of the house.
“We had a feeling the windows had lead in them, and we wanted to replace them, but it would be years before we could do that. This made it possible much sooner than we ever expected. It was like a Christmas present but better,” said Rosemarie Porter.
The Porter home was one of 111 projects completed since the program’s inception to remove or remediate lead from homes as part of a $3.4 million project funded through a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development grant.
The county plans to expand the program to another 144 homes over the next four years after receiving an additional $5.7 million allocation from the federal government. Officials said $5 million from the grant is earmarked specifically for lead removal, while the remaining $700,000 is available for other safety upgrades such as new roofs, downspouts and radon gas testing.
The program is available to homeowners, rental property owners, tenants and caregivers of children younger than 6 who meet household income thresholds at or below 80% of the county’s median income.
A family of four with an annual income below $85,850 qualifies for the program, said Janet Parker, deputy director of the Westmoreland County Planning Department.
County-hired inspectors tour each potential home and conduct as many as 300 tests for lead as part of a risk assessment report that details the scope of work.
“This program is important. Lead is invisible, but it just sits in the air and still exists in about 70% of housing in Westmoreland County,” said Lead Safe program coordinator Vanessa Peperato.
Information about the Lead Safe program is available on the Westmoreland County website.
Porter said she first learned about the program through an information session at her child’s Head Start program just two weeks after the family purchased their home. After an intake session and home inspection, the Porters relocated or about two weeks in January f as contractors took on the remediation project.
“People can be skeptical of all kinds of government programs, but this one is about the safety of kids,” Porter said.