MILWAUKEE — Thousands of Milwaukee children are being poisoned by lead paint each year, with health department data revealing a crisis that disproportionately affects families of color and renters across the city.
Watch: Milwaukee children poisoned by lead paint as landlords avoid accountability
TMJ4 Lighthouse journalist Ben Jordan has been investigating this issue for months as part of a new series called "Poisoned by Paint," which exposes how neglectful landlords continue to endanger children despite fines and lawsuits.
"I think it's about time that the main issue that affects the children is being addressed," said Deanna Branch, whose son was poisoned by lead paint. "Nothing is being done about it."
Milwaukee Health Department data from annual lead surveillance reports indicate that 8% of children aged 5 and younger tested this year were found to have elevated lead levels in their blood. The CDC considers elevated blood lead levels to be at 3.5 micrograms per deciliter and above.
"We're basically saying as a society we're comfortable with 8% of our children being poisoned. It's a tragedy," said Amy Kalkbrenner, a lead expert at UW-Milwaukee.
Since 2023, health department records show 88% of the children they work with live in homes contaminated with lead paint.
"Lead paint, long story short, is highly concentrated, and a little bit of dust in a small child can send them straight to the hospital," said Tyler Weber from the Milwaukee Health Department.
The scope of the problem is staggering. Michael Mannan from the Milwaukee Health Department estimates there are about 177,000 homes built before 1978 in Milwaukee, corresponding to about 255,000 units that contain lead paint.
The cost to address the crisis would be enormous. Weber estimates it would cost "easily a billion dollars" to remove lead paint from all affected homes in Milwaukee. The city only receives enough federal funding to address 200 homes per year, spending $20,000 to $60,000 to make each home lead safe.
"The older the home, the longer it goes without maintenance, the worse it is," Weber said.
The health department identifies three factors that make Milwaukee's lead paint problem particularly severe: an old housing stock, economic disparities largely among people of color, and dozens of landlords who refuse to act despite fines and lawsuits.
"A lot of younger Black women like myself or single mothers or single parents take the houses from too good to be true landlords, and then their kid ends up getting sick," said Danielle Jones, whose sister's child was poisoned by lead paint.
For families like Jones and Yasinta Novati, the discovery that their homes contained lead paint came as a shock.
"I didn't know anything about the lead until we took her to the hospital," Jones said.
"No, we didn't know," Novati said when asked if she knew there was lead in her home. "You never know where the lead is."
The health effects can be severe and long-lasting. Dr. Heather Paradis from Children's Wisconsin explains that lead poisoning can cause behavioral problems that mimic ADHD, including hyperactivity, impulsivity, and learning difficulties.
"What most people don't realize {is that} when a child is lead poisoned, it's a lifelong thing," Branch said.
Eleven-year-old Aidan Branch, who experienced lead poisoning firsthand, has a message for others: "I don't want anyone else to go through what I've been through."
The health department says Wisconsin laws limit their ability to hold negligent landlords accountable.
"Our penalties that we have are capped at state levels, so most of the time, landlords view it as the cost of doing business," Mannan said.
Weber finds the situation frustrating, especially compared to other states with stronger enforcement mechanisms.
In some cases, the contamination is so severe that paint chips are visible in children's stomachs on X-rays after they've ingested them.
"I think it's all about a dollar sign," Jones said about landlords who fail to address lead paint issues.
In a city where the majority of residents rent their homes, Jones wants people to know "there's landlords out here who are not doing their jobs."
The "Poisoned by Paint" series will continue to examine this crisis, including identifying landlords who have been sued for failing to remediate lead paint and exploring why current laws make it difficult to hold them accountable.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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