NYCHA Lead Scandal Is NYC's 'Flint Moment,' Public Advocate Says

NEW YORK, NY — Public Advocate Letitia James still wants a "sweeping change in leadership" at the New York City Housing Authority, even after efforts to remedy a years-long failure to check apartments for lead, she told Patch on Thursday.

In her first interview about NYCHA's lead-testing scandal, James compared the affair to the widespread lead poisoning and alleged cover-up in Flint, Michigan. She joined the call for a state-appointed monitor to ensure no more public housing residents are put in unnecessary danger of lead poisoning.

"This is our Flint moment, and I want it corrected, and I want it corrected now," James told Patch over the phone on Thursday.

Two top NYCHA officials resigned and a third was demoted after the city Department of Investigation revealed two weeks ago that the housing authority told federal officials it had checked apartments for lead, even though NYCHA leaders knew the inspections hadn’t been done.

James called for leadership changes at NYCHA two days after the DoI report came out, which many widely considered a call for Chairwoman Shola Olatoye's resignation.

NYCHA hasn't done enough since then, James said. Though she wouldn't specify which NYCHA officials she wants out, James said NYCHA needs to clean house and hold its leaders accountable, even if it means Olatoye resigns.

James has been one of NYCHA’s most vocal and persistent critics since the city's Department of Investigation revealed the lapse in lead inspections two weeks ago. The department found NYCHA falsely told the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development it had inspected about 55,000 apartments for lead from 2013 to 2016. Federal prosecutors have been investigating the false certifications for two years.

The public advocate’s office launched its own investigation last week. Its purpose is to help James craft city legislation and other reforms to prevent another lapse in lead tests, she said. The DoI found NYCHA also violated a city law mandating lead inspections for the 4,200 apartments presumed to have lead paint where kids younger than 6 live.

"We’ve got a repsonsibility, again, to hold this office accountable, to hold this administration accountable," James said.

James' continued criticism of NYCHA puts her at odds with Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has defended Olatoye and dismissed her critics. James is considered a potential mayoral candidate in 2021.

While she declined to comment on whether she's considering a mayoral run, James said other elected officials' response to the scandal has been more subdued than it would have been under prior mayors. James criticized then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg as a city councilwoman and wants to be "consistent" now, she said.

"There would be a much more robust outcry from other elected officials, and the reality is that everyone is falling in line," James said.

Olatoye has said she ordered lead inspections for affected NYCHA apartments as soon as she learned in April 2016 that tests required by city law hadn’t been done. She also told to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development when she found out NYCHA also failed to follow federal lead-testing rules.

In addition to forcing out two executives, NYCHA created a compliance department to ensure the authority follows all local and federal laws. Edna Wells Handy, the legal counsel to NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill, will lead the office starting in December.

While she praised Handy, whom she knows personally, James called the compliance department “redundant” and “duplicative” because NYCHA already has an internal auditor with the same function.

A spokeswoman for de Blasio, Olivia Lapeyrolerie, said comparing the NYCHA testing failure to Flint's widespread lead poisoning is "both alarmist and inaccurate." The number of New York City kids with lead poisoning is down 69 percent since 2005, she said.

More than 4,700 kids younger than 6 in Flint had elevated levels of lead in their blood in 2015, after corroded pipes put lead in the drinking water there. NYCHA, by contrast, documented just 17 such cases from 2010 to 2016, only four of which were reported after Olatoye took over in 2014.

In response to James' other criticisms, Lapeyrolerie said, "Politicians are going to be politicians."

James said claims that she's politically motivated are "a distraction."

"I will not be distracted," she said.

Patch has reached out to NYCHA for comment. We'll update this story if we hear back.

(Lead image: Public Advocate Letitia James speaks at a rally outside City Hall on Nov. 6. Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)