Tough going for NYCHA boss at toxic hearing
That investigation is ongoing. At the time, de Blasio claimed at a news conference that NYCHA had an “aggressive” lead paint initiative and Olatoye told a Council hearing the authority was in compliance.
Within weeks, Olatoye told the mayor that NYCHA was not in compliance with a local law requiring annual inspections for apartments with children younger than 6.
Soon after, she told him NYCHA was also violating federal regulations requiring the inspection of some 55,000 apartments with presumed lead paint.
The mayor and NYCHA withheld that information from tenants, the public and the Council for more than a year.
“In hindsight, our communications could have been better,” Olatoye admitted.
During much of the hearing, Council members blasted Olatoye for a persistent lack of transparency and a deliberate effort to withhold damaging information.
“I am deeply disappointed in the testimony today,” said Public Housing Committee Chairman Ritchie Torres (D-Bronx). “My confidence in this agency is shaken by this testimony.”
Torres (photo inset) called the hearing after a Nov. 14 report by the city Department of Investigation made public NYCHA’s pattern of false certification that all was well with its inspections for lead paint.
Subsequent to that, the Daily News revealed how de Blasio sat on the damning information about NYCHA’s noncompliance.
The News also exposed the fact that for years, NYCHA workers without required training had routinely inspected and cleaned thousands of leadtainted apartments. A source familiar with this effort said that NYCHA has no true picture of the scope of the problem and has potentially put tenants in danger by allowing them to move into toxic apartments that had falsely been deemed “clean.” NYCHA’s use of untrained workers for lead paint inspections and cleanup dominated much of the hearing. Under questioning, it was admitted that in the last year, staff without the required training did “paint correction” on 2,363 apartments with lead paint where children younger than 6 live. As a result, the city is now offering to test the bloodlead levels of all children living in those units.
Deputy Mayor Herminia Palacio said the number of children with high lead levels has fallen each year, but she conceded that last year, only 80% of 3-year-olds were tested while no one tracks if children 7 through 10 are tested at all.
For months, the authority has said the 55,000 apartments with presumed lead paint must be inspected, but on Tuesday even that number was up for grabs. Olatoye admitted for the first time that in prior years, some apartments may have been incorrectly “exempted” from lead paint testing.
And DOI Commissioner Mark Peters, who detailed his report’s findings, made clear that the story isn’t over.
When Torres voiced concern about NYCHA’s use of untrained workers for lead paint cleanups, Peters replied, “It is a valid question. It is part of our ongoing investigation.”