BUFFALO, N.Y. — Several organizations have filed a lawsuit against the City of Buffalo. They want the city to implement the proactive rental inspection law.
Andrea Ó Súilleabháin, executive director of Partnership for the Public Good, cited a doctor’s comments in an affidavit that “in 2023 and 2024, all of the children who needed medical treatment at the Western New York lead Poisoning Prevention Center lived in rental housing, and those are children with the most severe levels of lead exposure that requires this medical intervention."
In 2020, the Buffalo Common Council adopted the proactive rental inspection.
“The stated purpose of the law is to achieve the complete remediation of lead based paint hazards to correct and prevent many other unsafe and unhealthy housing conditions, and to restrict and revoke rental privileges for property owners who fail to maintain safe and healthy housing," she said.
John Lipsitz,volunteer attorney said “the city of Buffalo, as it has for the past 30 plus years, continues to drag its feet. Continues to sweep the matter under the carpet while this crisis deepens. It continues to affect poor communities in the city and communities of new immigrants at a very high rate."
Four organizations and four individuals have filed the lawsuit.
Dawn Wells-Clyburn, Executive Director, PUSH Buffalo executive director said her organization joined the lawsuit “because we've lost full faith and confidence in the Brown administration's ability to implement a critical tool in the fight for housing justice in our city."
A spokesperson for the city of Buffalo said they will not respond to pending litigation. During the mayor’s state of the city address he announced the city is hiring seven new housing inspectors. The city budget just went into effect on July 1, and they are in the process of hiring.
The governor’s office also provided guidance on lead and housing.
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