A group of 39 community organizations appealed to the City of Buffalo to inspect far more rental properties for toxic lead paint, as required by its own Proactive Rental Inspections local law.
Since at least the early 1990s, Buffalo has ranked among the nation’s worst cities for childhood lead poisoning – a function of its aging housing stock and other factors.
The Erie County Health Department designated nine ZIP codes in the city as communities of concern because of elevated childhood lead poisoning.
“In our city, children who live in predominantly neighborhoods of color are 12 times more likely to experience lead poisoning than children in predominantly white neighborhoods,” Andrea Ó Súilleabháin, executive director of think tank Partnership for the Public Good, said during a news conference Tuesday in Niagara Square in front of City Hall.
“Unless the city takes these prevention measures required by PRI legislation seriously, the rates of childhood lead poisoning will not decrease from their current levels,” Ó Súilleabháin said.
Since 2021 when the Proactive Rental Inspections program was implemented, Buffalo has completed 4,765 inspections out of 36,000 units covered under the legislation, and 415 certificates of compliance have been issued, said Catherine Amdur, the city’s commissioner of permit and inspection services. This year, city inspectors have completed 140 PRI inspections and issued 46 certificates.
“It’s a big undertaking. We’re doing what we can to achieve the goal,” Amdur said. “It takes time to roll out a new program and see what does and doesn’t work.”
The community organizations delivered a letter Tuesday to Mayor Byron W. Brown and Amdur, demanding documentation within 30 days to show the city is fully complying with the rental inspections required by the PRI legislation.
Breana Hargrave, a program coordinator at LEAD 716, was exposed to lead in 1998 and now works with families…
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