Allegheny County residents will soon be asked to weigh in on proposed updates to the county’s housing and community environment regulations.
The rules establish minimum standards to make housing safe and fit for human habitation. At a meeting of the Board of Health Wednesday, Allegheny County Health Department officials said the proposals are meant to modernize the code, which hasn’t been updated since 1997. They’d also be a starting point that officials could expand on in future updates.
Some of the suggested changes include adding definitions to make the policies clearer to regular people, bringing building codes up to modern industry standards and adding safety precautions like fall-prevention devices on easily accessible windows.
“As you can imagine, much has changed since this section was last updated in 1997,” the county’s Deputy Director for Food Safety, Housing and Policy Otis Pitts told the board. “It is now very common for housing to be identified as a core social determinant of health, and many industry standards have evolved to reflect its influence on both health and safety.”
The county Board of Health voted to send the new language out for public comment.
The 60-day public comment period could start as early as next week and last through July. Officials hope to have the board approve a final draft in September. The updates would go into effect July 1, 2024.
Read through all of the proposed changes here.
