A Precautionary Approach to Childhood Lead Poisoning
Los Angeles will address lead paint hazards in homes before children are poisoned. On
June 20, 2003 the L.A. City Council unanimously approved a pilot project that
incorporates lead hazard inspections into routine housing code enforcement to ensure
landlords make repairs that prevent poisoning. The City’s Pilot Program is a
breakthrough in lead poisoning prevention involving collaboration among the city
council, government agencies and community groups. The program will begin soon in 5
of the city’s 15 council districts with the most high-risk homes and expand citywide after
6 months.
Under the program, housing code enforcement, as part of their routine inspections, will
conduct visible inspections for lead hazards, order landlords to repair lead hazards, and
require all repairs that disturb paint in pre-1978 buildings to be done using lead safe work
practices. If a follow-up inspection indicates the lead hazard was not adequately repaired
or lead safe work practices were not used, certified lead inspectors from the health
department will document the lead hazards and the landlord will be prosecuted.
Community groups will educate tenants to identify unsafe work practices and call the
housing department if work is not done safely. The pilot project implements the new
state lead poisoning prevention law, Senate Bill 460.
The pilot project resulted from the work of the Healthy Homes Collaborative, a network
of more than 20 Southern Californian community based health and housing groups that
seek to address environmental health hazards in low-income housing. Over two years
ago, the Healthy Homes Collaborative challenged the City of Los Angeles to deal with
the problem of low-income families being forced to choose between the health of their
children and a roof over their heads due to lead hazards. The City's Housing Department
claimed they lacked the legal authority, expertise and resources to address lead hazards in
the home. The County Health Department addressed lead hazards only after a child had
been poisoned. This approach amounted to using children as lead detectors.
The Healthy Homes Collaborative responded by working with L.A. City Councilman Ed
Reyes’ office to persuade the City Housing Department to require all City ordered repairs
in older housing be done using lead safe work practices to prevent poisonings. On the
state level, the Healthy Homes Collaborative worked with the State Department of Health
Services and State Senator Deborah Ortiz’s office to pass legislation that addressed the
lack of legal authority to prevent lead poisoning. Senate Bill 460 is landmark legislation
enabling local enforcement agencies to require repair of lead hazards without waiting for
a poisoned child. With that legal authority the Healthy Homes Collaborative and
Councilman Reyes’ office returned to the City Housing Department and County Health
Department and helped them to create the current pilot program.
Under the pilot program, outreach workers from the Healthy Homes Collaborative will
join City Housing Department inspectors to identify and repair environmental hazards.
Inspectors will notify owners that any work that disturbs paint in pre-1979 constructed
housing must be done using lead safe work practices. Community outreach workers will
educate parents and owners to ensure that hazards are addressed in a safe manner. The
County Health Department will document violations for prosecution. Once the pilot
program secures a commitment from the Los Angeles City Attorney’s office to
aggressively prosecute recalcitrant landlords who flout enforcement and put children's
lives in danger, the program will be a model for the state.
Contact information for the Healthy Homes Collaborative, Physicians for Social
Responsibility, Los Angeles, Calif.: Linda Kite at the Healthy Homes Collaborative (213)
386-4901 or lkite@psr.org;
NOTE:
The text of the Los Angeles lead abatement law can be found at
http://www.rachel.org/library/getfile.cfm?ID=242 and a rough
analysis of the law can be found at
http://www.rachel.org/library/getfile.cfm?ID=243.