►
Description
From the Stated Meeting of Philadelphia City Council held September, 19, 2019:
Councilmember Blondell Reynolds Brown (At Large) speaks on amendments to her bill expanding lead safety requirements for rental housing.
Read the bill: https://phila.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=3710522&GUID=6C4F2156-66F9-4F20-B4D9-51CD9604EFE7&Options=ID|Text|&Search=180936
A
A
Bill
number
one:
eight,
zero,
nine
three,
six
updates
the
law
on
lead,
certification
and
Philadelphia
rental
properties
and
addresses
those
rental
properties
built
before
1978
were
led
with
still
use
across
the
United
States.
The
current
law,
as
passed
by
the
City
Council
in
December
2011,
eleven
and
enacted
2012,
requires
certification
of
properties
built
before
1978,
with
children
six
or
under
reside
that
bill
applied
only
to
those
properties
where
children,
six
or
under
reside
after
five
plus
years
of
implementation.
Several
challenges
have
been
revealed,
thus
a
revisit
of
the
2012
law.
A
Fact
in
2018,
over
six
years
after
implementation
of
the
2011
bill,
1568
children
were
tested
for
tested
positive
for
lead
in
the
city
of
Philadelphia,
including
369
children
with
significantly
elevated
blood
lead
levels
like
my
menu
labeling
bill.
I
wanted
to
know
how
this
impacts
us
by
council
Matic
District
in
the
fourth
council,
Matic
district,
where
I
live
forty
five
percent
of
all
children
have
been
appropriately
screened
for
lead
testing
the
bad
news.
One
in
nine
children
still
in
the
fourth
council,
Matic
District,
led
by
councilman
Jones,
suffer
from
lead
poisoning.
A
A
My
staff
and
I
sent
a
memorandum
to
all
members
of
City
Council
that
outlines
the
additional
work
we
engaged
in
over
the
summer
and
subsequent
to
that
July
meeting
the
amendment
that
I
am
introducing
accomplishes
a
few
objectives
that
have
been
brought
to
my
attention
both
by
the
landlord
community
and
that
community
was
represents
and
is
a
voice
for
our
children.
The
amendment
extends
the
effective
date
of
the
ordinance
currently
from
July
1
2022
October
1
2020.
My
staff
and
I
believe
that
that's
reasonable
further.
A
The
transition
period
is
also
adjusted
such
that
all
rental
units
will
be
required
to
comply
by
April
1
2022.
That's
two
and
a
half
years
later.
Why?
Because,
after
speaking
with
the
commissioners
with
L&I
and
the
health
department,
their
IT
system
will
be
in
full
gear
and
able
to
capture
all
those
rental
units
by
April,
1
2022.
So
the
the
application
of
the
law
will
happen
in
chunks,
starting
with
those
parts
of
the
city
where
we
have
high
risk
of
lead,
and
that
too
has
been
broken
down
by
zip
code.
A
The
amendment
also
adds
additional
protections
for
landlords
if
a
tenant
unreasonably
denies
access
to
the
property
for
certification
or
remediation.
Second,
the
amendment
clarifies
the
system
of
compliance.
The
wrinkle
are
referred
to
in
June
spoke
to
the
discovery
that
I
learned,
that
our
health
department
and
L&I
needed
time
to
get
the
IT
component
in
gear,
and
so
the
amendment
will
enable
the
health
department
to
request
document
verification
of
LEED
certification.
It
will
also
require
the
health
department
to
maintain
a
list
of
certified
inspectors
and
ramiro
mediators
on
their
website.
A
Finally,
the
amendment
ensures
protections
for
tenants.
It
forbids
landlords
from
requiring
tenants
to
pay
directly
for
the
cost
of
testing
and
remediation.
The
amendment
protects
tennis
against
unfair
retaliation
by
landlord,
which
has
been
documented
by
our
city's
Human
Relations
Division,
and
the
goal
has
always
been
never
to
create
tears
housing
system
when
developing
these
amendments
I
have
remained
in
close
contact
with
all
stakeholders
who
have
watched
and
paid
close
attention
to
every
move
that
we're
making
on
this
Leadville.
A
The
approach
that
we
want
to
put
in
place,
we
want
it
to
ensure
enforcement,
we
want
to
ensure
enforcement
and
not
discrimination
since
circulating
those
amendments
on
Tuesday
afternoon.
Another
offer
has
come
to
the
attention
of
my
tat
of
my
staff
and
I,
and
we
look
at
all
offers
if
it's
going
to
make
it
a
better
bill,
it
is
a
very
reasonable
ask.
A
One
of
these
stakeholders
has
spoken
to
why
we
should
have
recertification
every
three
years.
That's
an
important
question.
That's
been
raised
on
why
the
need
for
recertification
clarity.
If
we're
going
for
let
free,
then
you
only
have
to
remediate
one
time
if
we
want
let
free,
if
that
is
our
standard,
but
we're
going
for
let's
safe,
because
it's
less
onerous
from
a
cost
standpoint,
particularly
for
small
landlords.
So
when,
where
our
goal
is
that
safe,
we
need
remediation
every
one
year
or
every
three
years,
like
Baltimore
or
every
five
years,
which
is
the
new
offer.