If Walls Could Talk: How Landlords Fail to Obey Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Laws in Bushwick

Abstract

Bushwick is a low-income community of color located in the heart of NYC's so called "lead belt": DHMH data has often ranked Bushwick as one of the communities with the largest numbers of children with reported elevated blood lead levels. Despite the explicit mandates of these laws to protect children from lead-based paint hazards in rental property, our survey found rampant noncompliance in virtually every aspect of landlord responsibility under these laws