Dr. Howard Weinberger spent five decades at Upstate Medical treating kids poisoned by the paint on their own bedroom walls. On Monday, the 91-year-old watched city and county leaders put his name on a renovated duplex at 187-189 Lincoln Ave. Howard’s House is now open, four free apartments where families can stay while their homes are de-leaded.
Nearly 1 in 10 Syracuse kids has elevated blood lead levels, ten times the rate in the rest of Onondaga County. The county is removing lead from 130+ homes. Five children hospitalized in 2026 alone. But abatement kicks up the exact toxic dust you’re escaping. It takes weeks. And until Monday, families had no answer to: “Where do we go?”
No place to go
Kerry Quaglia of Home HeadQuarters: “If they don’t have a relative or friend, they had no place to go.” Some doubled up. Some went back to contaminated homes early. Some never got the work done at all.
This story came from public records we pulled ourselves
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Howard’s House fills that gap, four furnished apartments with full kitchens, two bedrooms each, accessibility ramp. $500K total, split between city and county. Already has a waiting list.
Why here, and what’s next
The 100 block of Lincoln Ave. sits in the geographic center of Syracuse’s lead crisis, where the oldest housing stock meets the youngest victims. Mayor Sharon Owens called it “an absolutely beautiful place for them to be temporarily.” County Executive Ryan McMahon wants to replicate the model elsewhere. Full operations begin within 30 days.
Dr. Weinberger pushed for mandatory screening in the 1970s when the medical establishment treated lead as someone else’s problem. That practice became state law. Monday, the county declared March 24 “Dr. Howard L. Weinberger Day.”
Four apartments. A hundred thirty homes still waiting. First step, not a solution, but the kind that changes real outcomes for real families.
Sources
- Syracuse.com, Howard’s House opening coverage
- CNYCentral, Lead poisoning data and county statistics
