Lead paint has been a constant issue that NYCHA has been dealing with, and their lack of effort is affecting its residents. In a two-month survey, it showed that in just 8,300 NYCHA apartments, 80 percent of these apartments have been found with lead. However, NYCHA has been working towards rectifying the problem, by doing what they do best, covering it up.
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https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2018/11/19/nycha-lead-paint-challenges
From 2010 to 2018, NYCHA has challenged 95 percent of its lead paint orders, going as far as claiming that these reports are false-positive readings. While NYCHA sends inspectors to residents, they often overlook any lead paint claims. According to Tyree Haslip, a retired building superintendent who worked in the Queensbridge Houses, “We’re maintenance. We’re doing the inspections. We’re not mainly checking for lead. The only thing we may mark down is if the paint is peeling off the walls or off the ceiling.”. Rather than employing a third-party agency to perform the lead paint testing, NYCHA does its testing in house, where it can control any and all results.
Since 2012, reports came to light revealing that over 1,100 children living in NYCHA tested positive for lead, and as children testing positive continue to be at a staggering number, NYCHA has no solutions. Mayor Bill DeBlasio has promised that NYCHA will inspect, and remove the lead from the over 135,000 apartments that have tested positive for lead by the end of the 2019 year. NYCHA has reported as saying that they do not have the ability to properly inspect all of its apartments for lead paint, and it certain does not have a plan to remove the lead in the event that any is found.
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https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/18/nyregion/nycha-lead-paint.html
In the case of Saheed Morrison, age 11, a resident in the Gowanus Houses in Brooklyn, when he tested positive for lead paint, the response was anything but reassuring. Upon the positive testing, the health department told NYCHA to inspect the apartment for lead paint. NYCHA immediately challenged the claim, said that there is no lead paint in the apartment, and claimed that the lead paint came from another source. When NYCHA claimed that the lead paint came from a pipe from the outside hallway, Ms. Morrison, the mother of Saheed, was not informed of this by NYCHA, but rather a reporter.
As NYCHA continues to cover up any claims through falsified readings, using in house inspectors, and denying any reports, there is no hope in sight of NYCHA getting the lead out.
