Lead Paint Poisoning Legal Efforts, Lead Safe House Program, and Lead Poisoning Prevention Workshops
 

Lead Paint Poisoning Legal Efforts

Lead paint was banned for residential use in New York City in 1960 and in the nation in 1978. However, New York City still has the highest percentage of pre-1960 (63.5%) residential housing in the nation. According to the New York City Department of Health approximately 600,000 New York City children under seven years of age are at risk of lead poisoning. Legal services are critical to ensuring that all landlords make the renovations necessary to prevent lead poisoning.

Impact:

  • Matthew J. Chachere, one of the city’s top lead paint experts, spearheaded class action lawsuits to protect children from lead poisoning.
  • After finding the city “in contempt” four times, the city was pushed to pass Local Law 1, a powerful law that dramatically increased public awareness and prevention.
  • In 2003, NMIC opened the Lead Safe House, which offers temporary lead-free housing, screenings, education, legal services, and case management.

For more information on our Lead Safe house, click here.

For more information: Contact Mathew J. Chachere at or 212-822-8309.

Lead Safe House Program

According to New York’s highest court, “childhood lead poisoning may be the most significant environmental disease among children in New York City.” Washington Heights and Inwood forms the western portion of New York City’s “Lead Belt.” There are more children at-risk for lead poisoning in the Washington Heights and Inwood community than in any other neighborhood in New York City. The Department of Health reports that with 13% of Manhattan’s population, our community had 58% of the reported cases. Eighty nine percent, or approximately 65,000 apartment units in Washington Heights and Inwood contain lead-based paint.

Impact:

  • Since we opened in 2003, we have provided families with housing referrals, counseling, and help obtaining often difficult-to-navigate education, rehabilitation, and medical services.
  • NMIC's lawyers led a landmark class action suit on lead standards that resulted in passage of Local Law One of 2004, which effectively ended the weak and inadequate responses to unsafe lead conditions that previously dominated city policy. We continue to monitor the City's implementation of this law through our work training tenants and our partnership with the NYC Coalition to End Lead Paint Poisoning.
  • NMIC won 2006 EPA Environmental Quality Award.

For more information: contact Evelyn Suero, the Lead Safe House Coordinator, at 212-543-0260 x 202 or .

Lead Poisoning Prevention Workshops

To find out when our next Lead Poisoning Prevention workshop will be held, contact Evelyn Suero at our Lead Safe House at , or call 212-543-0260 x202. For more information on our Lead Safe House or Lead Prevention Program, click here.