Community advocates are filing an appeal against the City of Buffalo claiming officials aren’t enforcing the proactive rental inspection law.
It states that non-owner occupied and vacant properties are required to register with the city department of permits and inspections. They are to then be inspected and if they pass, those properties are to receive a certificate of rental compliance.
Now, if a property is inspected and fails to meet city standards, you can’t rent it out and existing tenants will not be evicted for missed rent payments.
Those suing the city claim officials are not carrying out this law that was adopted in 2020. The even bigger problem is that the alleged neglect is leading to kids getting lead poisoning.
Partnership for the Public Good research shows more than 1,200 city kids had high levels of lead in their blood between 2021 and 2023.
“Despite this law being passed, and even celebrated, by former Mayor Byron Brown and the City Council in 2020, the city has failed to carry out these inspections,” said Sarah Wooton, interim executive director, Partnership for the Public Good (PPG). “As a direct result, Buffalo residents continue to suffer in substandard rental housing conditions and children continue to be diagnosed with lead poisoning at alarming rates.”
The lawsuit was originally on July 10, 2024.
“Renters in Buffalo deserve the same safeguards as homeowners: to live in safe, sustainable, affordable housing that won’t hurt their families, that won’t poison their children with lead and other contaminants, that won’t force them to endure intolerable weather without heat or proper insulation,” said Dawn Wells-Clyburn, executive director, PUSH Buffalo. “Our homes should not hurt us. And yet, thanks to the city’s lack of action, too many Buffalo renters are forced to contend with conditions that most homeowners and landlords wouldn’t put up with. Our neighbors are sick and tired. They deserve better; the city owes them that respect.”
Spectrum News 1 has reached out to the city for comment.