"Kids Poisoned By Lead in CHA Housing; Landlords Still Got Paid"

"As private landlords increasingly take over the government's role of housing low-income families, dozens of children have been poisoned by brain-damaging lead while living in homes and apartments declared safe by the Chicago Housing Authority.

Taxpayers often still paid the rent.

Federal law requires the CHA to inspect subsidized homes before tenants move in and at least once a year afterward. But since 2010, at least one child has been diagnosed with lead poisoning in 187 homes the housing authority approved for occupancy, according to a Tribune analysis of thousands of pages of inspection reports, monthly payments, court documents and property records."

Michael Hawthorne and Jennifer Smith Richards report for the Chicago Tribune April 7, 2017.