New York City’s Public Housing has been under constant scrutiny recently for the lack of support from the city in regard to living conditions of the residents. A new report that was first broken by the New York Daily News reveals that more than 800 children who are supported by NYCHA housing have been exposed to elevated lead levels — which is more than 40 times the amount that was previously reported by city officials.
According to the report, the city reported that only 19 children were experiencing elevated lead levels because “the city chooses not to count hundreds of children with elevated lead levels for whom the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention recommends public health intervention. Instead, it relies on its own far more conservative level to trigger an investigation,” according to the Daily News report.
The New York Times is reporting that the Health Department has changed its policy and is working to fix the problem as well as educating residents on lead protections.
This isn’t the first scandal that has rocked the NYC Housing Authority. This past February, protests took place in the city after complaints of outdated and broken water heaters went months without being repaired by the city. Original reporting revealed that more than 80 percent of water heaters in public housing was broken during the coldest time of year in NYC.
