Buffalo sued for failure to enforce rental inspection law

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Community organizations and residents came together Thursday to announce they are suing the City of Buffalo for failing to provide safe rental housing.

The petition filed in Erie County Supreme Court claims the City of Buffalo, Mayor Byron Brown and Permit and Inspection Services Commissioner Catherine Amdur are dragging their feet when it comes to fully implementing the Proactive Rental Inspections, or PRI, law.

“We are seeking an order that requires the defendants, the city and officials, to comply with the legal obligations they have failed to meet,” said Matt Parham, director of litigation and advocacy at the WNY Law Center.

The PRI Act protects people living in rental housing from lead paint and other health and safety hazards. The Buffalo City Council unanimously passed the law in 2020.

“The goal of the legislation is to achieve a complete elimination of lead paint hazards and to correct and prevent many other unsafe and unhealthy housing conditions,” said Andrea Ó Súilleabháin, executive director of the Partnership for the Public Good.

The law also requires inspections of 36,000 rental properties and prohibits landlords from renting properties if violations are found until they receive a certificate of compliance.

However, according to the plaintiffs, fewer than 5,000 properties have been inspected nearly four years after the PRI Act was passed. The plaintiffs say this is putting families and children in dangerous conditions.

“In this lawsuit, the tenants describe their daily lives with leaking roofs, collapsing ceilings, mold, broken and rotting windows and exterior doors that don’t lock,” Ó Súilleabháin said. “Their children and grandchildren suffer from lead poisoning and asthma, persistent headaches, daily nosebleeds and many other problems,” he added.

“We are here this morning not because we wanted to be, but because we needed to be,” said Dawn Well-Clyburn, executive director of PUSH Buffalo. “We joined this lawsuit because we have lost all faith in the Brown administration’s ability to implement a critical tool in the fight for housing justice in our city,” she added.

7 News reached out to the City of Buffalo for comment on the lawsuit Thursday. A spokesperson would only say, “The City of Buffalo does not comment on pending litigation.”

Last week, Buffalo’s Licensing and Inspections Commissioner Cathy Amdur told 7 News the city is hiring seven new housing inspectors to help speed up the inspection process.

In the past, the city has also argued that preventing and tracking lead poisoning cases is a matter for the county, not just the city. The plaintiffs say that assertion is incorrect.

“We need to start proactively making sure the home is in good condition before kids test positive for lead. The county needs to deal with it after. We need the city to deal with it before,” said Sarah Wooton, director of community research at the Partnership for Public Good.

“You can’t let the city get away with this,” said John Lipsitz of Lipsitz, Ponterio & Comerford, LLC. “To say go after the county, fine, let the city go after the county. If the city wants to get some of its responsibilities off its back, you have to get them involved.”

The complaint was filed on behalf of four community organizations (Partnership for the Public Good, PUSH Buffalo, Housing Opportunities Made Equal, and the Center for Elder Law and Justice), as well as four city residents (Dorothy Oatmeyer, Victoria Ring, Krystal Cruz, and Denita Adams) by the law firm Lipsitz, Ponterio & Comerford LLC, the National Center for Law and Economic Justice, and the WNY Law Center.