Title X of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1992 mandated that the Secretary of HUD establish a task force to make recommendations on lead-based paint (LBP) hazard reduction and financing for private housing.
The Task Force included representatives of the broad array of interests affected by lead hazards in housing, including rental property owners and managers, lenders and insurers, real estate agents, physicians and public health experts, contractors, state and local government officials, and advocates for tenants' rights, environmental protection, and affordable housing. Despite the range of interests represented, the task force reached almost unanimous agreement on a set of recommendations that offer a vision for achieving lead safety through the nation's housing stock.
The Task Force identified a series of strategies that, taken together, form the basis for its recommended comprehensive approach to the lead-based paint problem. The recommendations are addressed to many affected parties, in both the public and private sectors.
The great majority of the recommendations fall into six broad categories, which the task force believed had to be pursued together in order to produce a health-protective and cost-effective solution. The six categories follow:
1. Adopt benchmark LBP maintenance and hazard control standards for rental housing (including essential maintenance practices and standard treatments);
2. Provide public financing of LBP hazard control in economically-distressed housing;
3. Modify the liability and insurance systems, to ensure that they both compensate poisoned children and clearly set standards for preventative measures that property owners should take;
4. Increase public awareness;
5. Follow strategies that match families with young children to lead safe housing; and
6. Promote more research on cost-effective strategies.