I'Jaz Ja'ciel | January 17, 2025

A judge has dismissed a lawsuit that contended the City of Buffalo is failing to enforce a law that mandates inspection of rental units for the presence of lead paint.

Partnership for the Public Good and three other community organizations filed the lawsuit last July against the city and the Department of Permits and Inspections. It claimed a failure to fully implement the rental inspections law contributed to substandard living conditions for city residents and increased risks for lead poisoning in young children.

The city in October asked State Supreme Court Judge Michael Siragusa to dismiss the case, with Assistant Corporation Counsel David Lee arguing that the city was enforcing the program and that landlords were ultimately responsible for ensuring residents have clean and safe homes to live in.

Siragusa on Monday granted the city’s motion to dismiss the case, siding with the argument that although the inspections were being performed slowly, city officials and inspectors were not neglecting the duties outlined for the program. Inspections are performed at the discretion of Department of Permits and Inspections Commissioner Cathy Amdur, according to court documents.

“[T]he Commissioner is not refusing to perform inspections. The Commissioner’s decision-making ability has been affected by a number of factors, and the timely completion of inspections depends on discretionary determinations made by her,” Siragusa stated in his decision.

The judge also agreed with the city’s stance that the state’s Green Amendment, which grants the right to a “healthy environment,” lacks key definitions that would help determine if the city is at fault.

Representatives of PPG maintain that the city is violating its own law by failing to ensure properties are inspected prior to being rented and that the inspections should be performed at a faster rate.

“The Judge’s decision permits the City to continue to allow properties to be rented without inspection, in direct violation of the law. At the current rate, it will take 27 years to complete the basic safety checks that are supposed to happen before properties can be rented. This is outrageous,” PPG said in a statement. 

The group plans to appeal the judge’s decision.

“​​Together with our partners, we will continue to advocate to compel the City to follow its own law and enforce its health and safety codes in our rental housing stock,” according to PPG’s statement.

Amdur, the inspections commissioners, declined to comment on the court ruling.

The Common Council adopted the Proactive Rental Inspections law in 2020 in response to the large number of children testing with high levels of lead in their blood. Three of the five ZIP codes in New York State with the highest rates of children testing positive for lead poisoning were in Erie County in 2020, according to the state health department’s most recently available data.

Both the county and the city are hiring new inspectors to address the city’s lead paint hazards, among other issues. Erie County is slated to receive $1.9 million from the state to hire eight inspectors and clerical support staff later this year. The city is in the process of hiring seven inspectors.

Amdur told Investigative Post via email that her department is composing its annual report on the Proactive Rental Inspections program, which she expects will be submitted to the Common Council next month. The report will provide information on the current number of city inspectors and an updated figure on how many rental units have been inspected under the program. Last year, about 3,000 of the city’s 36,000 program-eligible rental units were inspected.