EPA Settlement Protects Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority Residents from Lead Paint
Buffalo, N.Y. (April 17, 2025) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has partnered with the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority (BMHA) to reduce lead paint exposure risks. In this process, EPA and BMHA helped inform tenants about potential lead hazards in housing and protect more than 6,000 residents – many of them families with young children – living in older housing across Buffalo, New York.
“Lead in paint poses a serious risk to our kids and we negotiated this agreement to protect the health of thousands of residents living in the housing authority’s pre-1978 housing,” said EPA Regional Administrator Mike Martucci.
“BMHA is grateful for the technical assistance EPA provided and the collaborative nature of our negotiations and subsequent compliance efforts,” said Gillian Brown, Executive Director for BMHA. “We are confident that the changes and additions we have made will continue to help us in our mission to provide safe housing for some of Buffalo's poorest residents.”
BMHA has recently completed the successful performance of all the actions required under a settlement agreement reached in 2023 with EPA under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). These actions, which are identified below, will result in long-term compliance improvements, provide additional protection to tenants and enable BMHA to remain in compliance.
EPA waived a $252,000 penalty under special settlement conditions allowable under TSCA after the housing authority successfully took several actions to correct the problems and was able to comply with federal lead paint requirements. These actions included:
- Developing and following detailed plans to meet the federal Lead Disclosure Rule and Lead Renovation Repair and Painting (RRP) Rule.
- Submitting quarterly reports for 15 months to demonstrate compliance with disclosure requirements for new leases and lease renewals.
- Creating and implementing a Standard Operating Procedure Plan for Lead Abatement.
- Training and certifying BMHA staff to perform renovations under the RRP Rule
- Continuing adherence to federal lead paint regulations.
This settlement allowed BMHA to direct limited resources to actions that protect people – especially children – from the dangers of lead-based paint.
Background:
EPA has been working to ensure that public housing authorities meet lead-based paint requirements and ensure safe housing for tens of thousands of its residents living in public housing that was built prior to 1978, when lead was banned in paint. EPA found wide-spread violations of the federal lead-based paint requirements.
EPA has provided assistance to housing authorities in NY and NJ and subsequently entered settlements with the Housing Authority of the City of Passaic (HACP) in New Jersey (2022) and with Buffalo Municipal (2023) and Syracuse Housing Authorities (2023). The housing authorities now have detailed plans to meet federal lead-based paint requirements and protect residents.
In February of 2024, EPA began working in partnership with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to share information and work cooperatively with respect to independent and shared authorities for inspections, investigations, enforcement, communications, and outreach for lead-based paint administrative and judicial enforcement cases. Currently, EPA and HUD are jointly investigating several other public housing authorities concerning non-compliance with federal lead-based paint requirements.
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