Oct 7
2025
Pushing again for lead inspections in Buffalo
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From left: Matthew Parham, Daniel Corbitt, Sarah Wooton, Dawn Wells-Clyburn and Alex Fehrman
A group of tenants and community organizations on Tuesday appealed the dismissal of a lawsuit that sought more vigorous enforcement of a City of Buffalo program aimed at lead hazards in rental housing.
The Partnership for the Public Good along with three other organizations and four tenants filed a lawsuit last July in State Supreme Court against the city. The lawsuit alleged that the Department of Permits and Inspections was failing to provide a clean and healthful environment for its residents by lagging on rental property inspections.
State Supreme Court Judge Michael Siragusa dismissed the case in January, siding with the city’s argument that inspections were being performed at the discretion of the Department of Permits and Inspections’ commissioner Cathy Amdur.
“It was hugely disappointing to see that dismissal and to hear from the legal team that it seemed like our case was mischaracterized,” said Sarah Wooton, interim executive director at the Partnership for the Public Good.
Donate to support our nonprofit newsroomMatthew Parham, director of litigation and advocacy at the Western New York Law Center, told Investigative Post that the judge “made so many mistakes as to how he applied the law” and that the city’s legal counsel mischaracterized the arguments made in the case.
“They argued that we’re seeking to enforce a requirement that they inspect every property every three years, and that’s really not what we were seeking to enforce at all,” Parham said. “The case is really about them continuing to maintain properties in the registry without conducting the required inspections, not about the three year cycle.”
Parham said the judge also failed to address the city’s lack of a formal process for which landlords can apply for Certificates of Rental Compliance, which are given through the program once a unit passes inspection.
The city last October argued for the case’s dismissal, claiming that it had no merit for several reasons:
- Buffalo is enforcing its inspections law, known as the Proactive Rental Inspections Program, or PRI — just not as quickly as some would like.
- Landlords — not the city — should be held accountable for failing to eliminate environments conducive to child lead poisoning.
- The state’s Green Amendment, which grants the right to a “healthy environment,” lacks key definitions that would prove any sort of responsibility on the city’s end for lagging on inspections.
Assistant Corporation Counsel David Lee argued on the city’s behalf during that time that Amdur was “performing inspections.”
“The City of Buffalo is breaking the law. Let’s be clear about that,” said Dawn Wells-Clyburn, executive director at PUSH Buffalo during a press conference Tuesday. “They passed the law and then they broke it, and now they’re trying to repeal the foundations that really allow the people to speak and the people to have healthy communities and healthy homes.”
In March, Amdur released her department’s annual report to the Common Council, stating that the PRI program “has made significant improvements in the last year” with the hiring of seven additional inspectors, department-specific training, independent inspections and ensuring the city’s presence “at 60 community events to inform residents about the PRI program and its importance in ensuring safe rental housing.”
As of March 12, a total of 1,207 rental properties had been inspected, according to her report. Amdur said the PRI team conducts inspections “daily” and assesses 6,000 dwelling units per year. Amdur in January told Investigative Post that about 3,000 of the city’s 36,000 program-eligible rental units were inspected last year.
“We saw an uptick in the rate [of inspections] that they had done for the first few months of the year, but I’d be really curious to know has that pace kept up?” Wooton said.
The law establishing the PRI program was enacted in 2020 in response to the large number of children testing with high levels of lead in their blood.
In addition to combating lead hazards, the inspections are intended to address other unsafe living conditions such as mold, leaking ceilings and pest infestations.
Arguments for the appeal are expected to be heard in court next spring, according Parham.
The City of Buffalo accounted for three of the four ZIP codes in the state with the highest percent of children tested with elevated levels of lead in their blood, according to state Health Department data for 2020, the most-recent year for which data is available.
Investigative Post obtained 2023 data from the Erie County Department of Health that showed the ZIP codes with the most cases of elevate blood lead levels were in the City of Buffalo. Three of those ZIP codes – 14211, 14215 and 14212 – are on the East Side, which encompasses predominantly Black neighborhoods. The lawsuit stated that children living in these neighborhoods are 12 times as likely to have lead poisoning than children living in white neighborhoods.
Lead-poisoned children can suffer neurological damage, learning disabilities, attention disorders, hearing and speech problems, decreased IQ and a decreased lifespan.
Investigative Post reached out to the Department of Permits and Inspections for comment, although Amdur previously said the city does not comment on pending litigation.
