McHenry County ends Lead Safe Home program for lack of participation

McHenry County has ended its Lead Safe Home program, which aimed to help county residents rid their homes of lead paint.

The county returned federal grant money it had received for the program due to a lack of public interest.

Despite numerous marketing campaigns and publicity efforts for the program, the county only worked on three homes in 2025, according to county records.

“Our numbers kept dwindling,” McHenry County Director of Planning and Development Adam Wallen said.

McHenry County got a second Lead Safe Homes grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for about $2 million, according to county records. The first grant was rolled into the second one, Wallen said.

But the county has not been meeting benchmarks for the program and was in danger of being given “high-risk” status, according to records.

Wallen said the county worked with HUD to modify the benchmarks, but still was not able to meet the modified criteria.

If the county got the high-risk designation, it could have been forced to return the money. It also might not get the federal grants it applies for, and if it gets grants, it would have much more reporting and other requirements. It would be “a lot more work for the same amount of output,” Wallen said.

That designation also would apply to other county departments, including the health department, sheriff’s office and division of transportation, not just planning and development, Wallen said.

Rather than the prospect of attaining high-risk status, the county decided to voluntarily return the grant.

The lead safe home program was open to residents whose homes were built before 1978 and had a pregnant woman or child under 6 living or spending a significant amount of time in it.

Eligibility was capped to households making 80% or less of the area median income for the county.

About 40% of McHenry County homes were built before 1978, when lead paint manufacturing was banned, county officials have said.

The end of the program also means the end of the Healthy Home program, which Wallen said was a “subcomponent” of the Lead Safe Homes program. Wallen said people who qualified for the lead safe homes were at least required to test for radon.

With the end of the program, the county has to part ways with a program manager. Wallen said the manager did as much as anyone for the program, and it was difficult to let her go.