NYCHA Challenges Nearly All Lead Paint Removal Orders, Data Shows
By Spectrum News Staff New York City
PUBLISHED 2:14 PM ET Nov. 19, 2018 PUBLISHED November 19, 2018 @2:14 PM
New numbers show the New York City Housing Authority has a high rate of challenging orders to fix lead paint problems.
Statistics that the city health department released Sunday evening show that the housing authority, NYCHA, has challenged more than 95 percent of those orders from the health department.
Between 2010 and this year, the city health department instructed NYCHA to remove lead paint hazards 221 times.
The housing authority challenged 211 of those and the health department withdrew 158.
The counts provided below include contestation related to all DOHMH-issued orders to abate/remediate lead paint hazards, and is not limited to orders issued for addresses for children with blood lead levels of 10 mcg/dL or greater
NYCHA
Private Building Owners
DOHMH Orders Issued
Contestations Received
DOHMH Contestation Decision
Granted - Order Withdrawn
Denied in Part
Denied in Whole
* Decision pending
Chart source: New York City Department of Health
The health department says it will test about 130,000 apartments for lead.
Earlier this year, statistics from the city showed that more than 1,300 children living in public housing had been poisoned by lead paint since 2012.
This comes after a federal judge last Wednesday rejected a $2 billion settlement agreement between the U.S. attorney's office and the city's public housing authority, saying it does not go nearly far enough to protect the more than 400,000 New Yorkers who live in public housing.
It is estimated that $32 billion is needed to fix the problems plaguing the city's public housing system.