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REPORT ON CHILDREN
Homelessness, Health Trends Decried
The District's children are becoming less healthy and increasingly homeless, according to a report issued yesterday that has charted the state of the city's children for the past 15 years.
Obesity, sexually transmitted diseases, asthma hospitalizations and homelessness have increased alarmingly in recent years, according to the Every Kid Counts in the District of Columbia 15th Annual Fact Book.
Many of the problems are a direct result of the population's financial problems. "We have a very deep concern about the level of poverty," said Kinaya Sokoya, the executive director of the D.C. Children's Trust Fund and one of the report's authors.
The data she collected with the help of the Urban Institute also showed some positive trends. In 2007, violent deaths fell among older teens, the number of restraining orders dropped and students' test scores rose.
-- Petula Dvorak
D.C. COUNCIL
Bill on Lead Paint Removal Passes
The D.C. Council voted Tuesday to require landlords to clear lead-based paint hazards from housing rented to families with young children and pregnant women.
Under the bill, which was forwarded to the mayor for his signature, any family that includes a child younger than 6 or a pregnant woman can ask the city to certify that a rental unit has been cleared of lead.
"This is groundbreaking. We now have one of the toughest laws in the United States to prevent lead poisoning," said council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), who sponsored the bill. "Up until this point, we have used children as lead detectors. We are talking about children eating lead-based paint chips . . . in window jams and door pockets."
The bill, which passed unanimously, covers all rental units, from single-family houses to apartments.
-- Hamil R. Harris
