Lead Paint Risk In 9K NYCHA Apartments Where Young Kids Live

NEW YORK CITY — The number of young children in public housing at risk of lead exposure is three times greater than previously thought, a federal watchdog said.

The bombshell dropped Thursday in a short statement on the website for Bart Schwartz, the federal monitor tasked with overseeing NYCHA.

Schwartz wrote that a door knocking campaign and in-apartment tests found there were 9,000 apartments in the public housing system where children under 6 live and could be exposed to lead risks. Two years ago, NYCHA officials certified that number as 3,000.

"The effort reveals that a far greater number of children under six may be at risk of lead exposure than was thought just two years ago," Schwartz wrote.

Lead exposure presents significant potential health risks to children under 6, including slowed growth and development and brain and nervous system damage, the CDC warns.

Many NYCHA housing units were built before those risks were known and use of lead paint was banned. But the public housing system's officials for years not only failed to conduct lead inspections, they falsely told federal inspectors they did so.

The lies prompted a sweeping federal complaint and an equally-expansive oversight deal that aimed to clean up lead paint hazards, as well as other problems like heating failures and mold and rodent infestations.

The recent lead inspections were conducted by NYCHA's new leadership in the shadow of that past scandal.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said during a Thursday conference that he just heard about Schwartz's statement. He said the city needs to analyze the report.

"We're already hearing of tens of thousands of apartments that are now cleared forever, and that's going to allow us to concentrate our resources," he said. "But we will follow up immediately on this federal monitor report and get down to the bottom of what's happening and we will act on it immediately."

Schwartz wrote the job is now to protect the children at risk.

"NYCHA already has undertaken numerous steps in that direction," he wrote. "With this new information, the importance of quickly and thoroughly implementing all necessary actions must be emphasized. I am committed to seeing these lead safety steps be taken as soon as possible."

Read Schwartz's statement here.