Phila. Officials Launch New Plan In Effort To End Lead Paint Poisoning
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Philadelphia city officials are refocusing on a decades-old problem, in hopes of solving it once and for all.
The new plan cracks down on landlords, in order to eliminate a health hazard.
Lead paint, outlawed some forty years ago because it's toxic, is still a hazard in Philadelphia's older housing stock.
Officials estimate it may be present in some 56,000 homes with young children, more than half of them rental units.
Since 2012, city law has required landlords to make the homes lead safe before renting to families, but health Commissioner Thomas Farley says enforcement has been difficult so the plan includes new steps.
"We'll be working to expedite the remediation of homes where the owners or landlords don't necessarily do it themselves quickly through court orders or through having the health department remediate the properties and then seek reimbursement from the owners afterwards."
Farley notes the city has dramatically reduced lead poisoning in children in the last ten years, but hopes the plan will eliminate it.
