After a four-year gap in inspections, NYC Housing Authority officials found potential lead-paint hazards in 81 percent of the nearly 8,900 apartments housing children under 6 that its employees inspected in 2017, The Post has learned.
That includes at least 4,200 older apartments where the agency hasn’t ruled out the presence of lead paint, and nearly 4,700 apartments that had formerly been exempted from annual inspections because city officials believed them to be lead-free.
“These numbers are staggering, and I think it only further demonstrates the need for a third-party monitor to assist with ensuring remediation is done properly,” said City Councilman Rafael Salamanca (D-Bronx).
“After last week’s public hearing, we should all be concerned if NYCHA is properly testing and abating lead paint.”
Housing Authority officials have been on the hot seat since a report by the Department of Investigation last month revealed that the agency — which manages 175,000 public-housing units — failed to conduct required annual inspections for lead-paint hazards between late 2012 and early 2016.
Additionally, NYCHA Chair Shola Olatoye admitted to investigators that she had certified to federal housing officials in writing in October 2016 that the authority had been conducting the inspections, despite knowing it hadn’t.
She has since said it was a “mistake,” but noted she had privately informed the feds of the lapse.
Without revealing publicly what happened, NYCHA resumed inspections between May 2016 and early 2017 of 4,232 units with kids younger than 6 — out of about 55,000 apartments for which annual inspections were required.
But officials recently admitted that some of the remediation work conducted at roughly 2,200 of those apartments was done by employees who lacked the required federal certification.
NYCHA officials say the roughly 7,200 apartments being remediated as a result of this year’s round of inspections are all being done either with federally certified workers or vendors.
“This is NYCHA’s second round of Local Law 1 inspections. With each cycle, we’re getting more aggressive and effective at identifying and fixing issues,” said City Hall spokeswoman Olivia Lapeyrolerie.
NYCHA officials said it’s unclear how many of the remediated apartments actually contain lead hazards because they don’t test for lead.
DOI Commissioner Mark Peters revealed last week that his ongoing investigation includes a review of whether roughly 20,000 apartments have been improperly abated for lead paint hazards and exempted from inspection.