Pittsburgh City Council creates fund to support new Lead Safety Ordinance

Pittsburgh City Council on Tuesday approved legislation creating the Lead Safety Trust Fund, which will finance the city’s new Lead Safety Ordinance.

The city will put $2 million in American Rescue Plan money into the trust, which may hold other cash dedicated to enacting the Lead Safety Ordinance, including funding from nonprofits or private entities.

The trust fund will cover costs related to implementing the Lead Safety Ordinance, including material and employee costs for lead testing or remediation, safety training for city employees and general contractors and related community outreach initiatives.

Council unanimously approved the measure Tuesday.

City Council adopted the Lead Safety Ordinance in November in an effort to reduce the number of lead poisoning cases in the city. The law requires routine inspections of rental homes built before 1978. If lead is found during an inspection, it must be remediated and the residence repainted.

The measure also requires a registry of child care facilities, which will be inspected for lead.

Companies performing demolitions in Pittsburgh will need to obtain permits that require a lead-safe work plan, and demolition sites will be inspected. Contractors working in spaces built before 1978 will have to take a free, eight-hour lead safety training.

In a lawsuit challenging the city’s new rental registry program, the Apartment Association of Metropolitan Pittsburgh also challenged the portion of the Lead Safety Ordinance requiring rental properties constructed before 1978 to be inspected for lead.