Four local community organizations and four Buffalo residents filed an appeal of their lawsuit to compel the City of Buffalo to fully implement the Proactive Rental Inspections (“PRI”) Law. The PRI law, adopted in 2020, requires the inspection of 36,000 rental units to prevent lead-based paint hazards and other unsafe housing conditions, and requires landlords to obtain certificates of rental compliance.
From 2021 to 2023, 1,262 children in the City of Buffalo were confirmed to have high levels of lead in their blood. Most children who have elevated blood lead levels live in single and double-unit rentals which are the very units that are required to be inspected under this law.
The lawsuit was filed July 10, 2024, on behalf of Partnership for the Public Good, PUSH Buffalo, Housing Opportunities Made Equal (HOME), the Center for Elder Law and Justice, and four city residents who had been exposed to substandard housing conditions.
In January 2025, New York State Supreme Court. Erie County Justice Michael Siragusa granted the City’s motion to dismiss the case citing a narrow interpretation of the court’s authority. The justice’s decision did not say the City adequately implemented the law, rather, he deferred to the City’s and its Department of Permit and Inspection Services’ discretion. This decision allows properties to be rented without inspection, in direct violation of the law.
The PRI law requires that covered rental units must have a certificate of rental compliance. As of March 2025, there were 1,434 CRCs issued (about 4% of covered units). Based on the rate of inspections in 2024 and part of 2025, it will take 11 years to complete the basic safety checks that are supposed to happen before the properties can be lawfully rented.
“Buffalo has one of the highest lead poisoning rates in the nation,” according to Carmela Huang, Senior Attorney at the National Center for Law and Economic Justice. “Hundreds of children will suffer the irreversible consequences of lead poisoning every year until the PRI law is properly enforced to provide clean air, water, and a healthy environment for residents. We will continue to hold the City accountable for their failures to do so.”
Call or text Buffalo Landlord Premises Liability Attorneys Justin R. Friedman and Robert Friedman at 716-543-3764 for advice on lead paint poisoning.