Despite the existence of an alphabet soup of well-funded federal programs, what exactly those needs are is unclear. The apparent incoherence of the program might reflect a shortage of families that meet minimum guidelines for abatement. Or, perhaps, the LBPHCP and the CLPPP have failed to find them.
Some who are familiar with both operations suggest that one problem is the lack of coordination between the two programs. Ideally, they would complement each other: The CLPPP identifies families with lead-poisoned children; the LBPHCP removes the lead from their homes. But a source who worked on the LBPHCP before leaving the city says, "The ability of those two to work together has been questionable. There are too many people with something to say, and when they got around the table, they'd argue with each other. The job is divided, which makes the bureaucracy more difficult to function."
The best indication of the LBPHCP and the CLPPP's inability to coordinate their efforts is a report called the Lead-based Paint Hazard Control Referral Report. It lists the addresses of nearly 300 homes identified by both programs for possible lead removal. The document's title notwithstanding, McDaniel says the addresses aren't referrals, but merely offer "a snapshot of our day-to-day operation."
If that's the case, his operation is hard-pressed to find a sufficient number of homes from which to remove lead hazards. The majority of cases on the report -- an inexplicable 63 percent -- are labeled "inactive," meaning they are not eligible for the program.
Only 72 houses were listed as "active," but fewer than 30 of them have actually qualified for abatement. The rest have yet to undergo environmental inspections or are having their owners' income status verified. Cur-iously, only five of those "active" cases originated with the CLPPP, which might explain why at least 50 of the houses identified on the referral report are not homes to lead-poisoned children.
So why doesn't McDaniel rely on the extensive data on lead-sick children that's already been collected by the CLPPP? "We had a referral process from [Vodehnal] at one time," he explains. "But it never really jelled. The people who work for her had a little different idea of how I should operate. It was kind of a flaky deal to begin with."
Vodehnal was careful not to criticize McDaniel's program, saying that he now has direct access to her database "so they can search through on their own." These days, she limits her contact with the LBPHCP to a weekly e-mail report of new cases. The rest of the time, she's busy locating Houston children who are lead poisoned, while hoping that greater care and education will make them harder to find.
Wish her luck.
