NYC WAS MIS-LEAD
12K kids stayed in toxic peril
Failures by two city agencies left nearly 12,000 children living in lead-tainted private homes, a damning new report has found — and an official blamed for the fiasco is now in charge of fixing the problem at the Housing Authority.
The report from city Comptroller Scott Stringer shows that City Hall’s failure to protect tenants in public housing from the toxic substance extends to New York’s private housing.
“Our investigation uncovered a systemic breakdown in our city’s bureaucracy that let thousands of our children fall through the cracks,” Stringer said hursday. “The city is likely undercounting the number of lead-exposed children and, therefore, our response is not matching the full crisis.”
The kids were hurt by twin bureaucratic failures, Stringer said.
The Health Department failed to notify the city’s tenant watchdog — the Department of Housing Preservation and Development — that 11,972 children tested positive for lead levels the feds consider dangerous between 2013 and 2018 because it relied on an outdated standard.
Under city rules, kids were considered poisoned only if lead levels in their blood hit 15 micrograms per deciliter. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention determined in 2012 the level should be just 5 micrograms. So health officials never flagged the private apartments home to the poisoned children for HPD to inspect.
Additionally, Stringer’s report found HPD failed to enforce a key provision of the city’s lead laws, which require landlords to inspect apartments for lead and remove it if it’s found.
HPD never once hit a landlord with a violation for failing to comply with that provision.
“Not only were no violations issued for the failure to certify, HPD did not issue any violations to property owners for failure to perform required turnover work, nor did HPD compel a property owner to do such work,” the comptroller found.
“As a result, the decision was largely left to landlords to follow the city’s turnover rules or not.”
Stringer’s scorching audit slammed both agencies for failing to tackle the problem.
It found that the Health Department had the data on the lead-tainted kids but it never told HPD because the two agencies had “zero communication” with each other.
That left as many 63 percent of the residential buildings under HPD’s jurisdiction “entirely uninspected.”
A Bronx mother who is suing her landlord over lead exposure told The Post she blames the toxin for her 5-year-old son’s developmental problems.
“I had to get a lawyer because the city and housing weren’t doing anything to help me,” said Sakia Colon, 31, who lives in Kingsbridge with her son Carter.
“They painted over the lead radiators but the landlord didn’t seem to care. You’d think the state would take action. I do so much to get him help but I am scared the lead-paint poisoning will [block] Carter from development milestones.”
The audit released Thursday is a black mark for the bureaucrat Mayor de Blasio named in January 2018 to fix the lead crisis at NYCHA, Vito Mustaciuolo.
City Hall touted Mustaciuolo’s lead credentials from running HPD’s enforcement division when Hizzoner promoted him to be NYCHA’s general manager.