Philadelphia has not joined the lawsuit. Instead, there are proposals under discussion in City Council that would address only a portion of the problem — lead paint in older buildings, particularly rental units — but do not delineate funding for inspections or remediation. Not only would these approaches increase taxpayer costs for inspections — if enacted, they would decrease the supply of affordable housing. According to a study by Anderson Economic Group and cosponsored by PAA East this year, if property owners have to pay for lead paint remediation, those costs could be passed on to tenants by rent increases of up to $400 a month. In some neighborhoods, the higher rents will make housing all but out of reach for too many people. At a time when Philadelphia faces an affordable housing crisis, it is unwise and counterproductive to enact a policy that would likely make tens of thousands of housing units unaffordable. It's also unclear that these proposals would do anything to address the problem of lead in the soil or in classrooms.