An investigative series by Farrah Anderson for Wisconsin Watch
Two Milwaukee parents say they faced homelessness and scrutiny from Child Protective Services after their children were found to be poisoned by unaddressed lead hazards in their rental homes. Advocates say such stories are common in Milwaukee, where more than half of households rent.
Landlords see few incentives to renovate on their own, and Milwaukee regulators — limited by a lack of funds and a state law capping inspection fees — provide little oversight over lead-tainted rentals.
A 2022 Milwaukee ordinance designed to prevent landlord retaliation and stiffen penalties for landlords who refuse to address detected lead has yielded little impact.
Acknowledging shortcomings, the Milwaukee Health Department plans to roll out a new strategy for spurring landlords to act.
Deanna Branch thought she found the perfect home to rent on Milwaukee’s North Side: a two-story house with a balcony near her sons’ school, two grocery stores and a park.
Perfect until severe lead poisoning in 2015 sent Branch’s then-2-year-old son Aidan to Children’s Wisconsin hospital.
Her landlord replaced the home’s lead-painted windows but didn’t address remaining hazards, Branch said. After Aidan returned to the hospital three years later, state Child Protective Services said Aidan couldn’t leave unless she could provide a lead-free home, she recalled.
She broke her lease and immediately moved in with family and later lived at a shelter.
Her rental company management, Ogden and Company, Inc., sued Branch and garnished her mother’s wages for years, since she had co-signed on the lease, she said. The situation hardly seemed fair.
“I broke my lease, but you almost killed my son,” Branch said of her landlord. “So I figured we will be a little bit even.”
Branch has since become an advocate for parents facing lead hazards, even spotlighting the issue as a guest during President Joe Biden’s 2023 State of the Union address.
But her experience remains common in Milwaukee. More than half of city households rent — the highest percentage in the Midwest — and an estimated 200,000 aging housing units likely have paint made with lead, a neurotoxin that damages the brain and nervous system, especially in young children.
Family photos cover the refrigerator of the Branch family kitchen on July 1, 2023, in Milwaukee. Deanna Branch spotlighted lead hazards as a guest during President Joe Biden’s 2023 State of the Union address, and she previously met Vice President Kamala Harris in 2022 when the Democrat visited Milwaukee to promote federal spending on water projects. (Sara Stathas for Wisconsin Watch)
Through its News414 collaboration, Wisconsin Watch also spoke to Dennise Honegger, who moved between four lead-tainted Milwaukee-area rentals between 2017 and 2023, leading to hospital stays for her daughter and grandson, scrutiny from Child Protective Services and months of homelessness before finally finding a lead-free home.
Homeowners can make their properties safer by removing lead paint, dust or water pipelines, and some government programs subsidize that process. But renters, whose children disproportionately face lead risks, rely on landlords to take action. Landlords see few incentives to renovate on their own, and Milwaukee regulators — limited by a lack of funds and a state law that capped inspection fees on landlords — provide little oversight over lead-tainted rentals.
That reality reinforces deep racial and socioeconomic disparities in one of the nation’s most segregated cities.
Branch is co-founder of the Coalition on Lead Emergency, which educates renters about lead hazards and advocates for more oversight. The group hears from many families who struggle to respond after their children were poisoned in rentals, said Richard Diaz, another coalition co-founder.
Few tenants feel comfortable complaining about unaddressed lead hazards, and some who do may risk retaliation — whether through rent hikes or eviction, particularly in Milwaukee’s most lead-impacted neighborhoods, he said.
“You hear the same story, just time and time again,” Diaz said. “Kids lead poisoned, landlord doesn’t care, they get evicted.”