No monitor on lead-paint fixup: judge

A FEDERAL judge Friday shot down a request by public-housing tenants to appoint an independent monitor to oversee NYCHA’s lead-paint inspections.

Manhattan Federal Judge William Pauley rejected the request by tenants whose young children registered elevated levels of lead in their blood.

The suit was filed last year after the Daily News revealed that NYCHA had been caught lying about performing required lead paint inspections and cleanups.

The tenants argued that the lead-paint failures violated the Fair Housing Act by creating dangerous conditions for tenants with young children who are especially vulnerable to the toxic paint.

In his 10-page ruling, the judge said so far the tenants haven’t been able to show NYCHA’s flawed lead-paint protocols have had a “disparate impact” on tenants with young children.

“The bureaucratic malfeasance described in this lawsuit is appalling,” he wrote, but the court “cannot impose such an extraordinary remedy without assuring itself that a federal claim lies here,” he wrote.

NYCHA spokeswoman Jasmine Blake stated, “We will continue to . . . provide residents safe, clean and connected communities.”