Dozens of families remain at lead-tainted Indiana complex

[...] the delay points up several problems with the evacuation effort such as limited rental options in the formerly industrial area, landlords who won't accept government housing vouchers and some residents' resistance to being forced from the city.

Officials last summer began clearing out the 45-year-old complex of three-story apartment buildings after detailed soil testing found some yards with lead levels more than 70 times the federal safety standard.

Final decisions on the relocations rest with city officials, who didn't talk with a couple dozen protesters at City Hall last week calling for an extension of the relocation deadline.

Copeland said in a statement last week to local news media he would never advocate moving residents involuntarily "unless we faced an issue of public safety" and that waiting wasn't an option because of the environmental hazards.

The plans to move some families across the state line into Illinois could cost people jobs and state Medicaid coverage and force children to change schools late in the school year, said Emily Coffey, an attorney for Chicago-based Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law who's working with residents.