The federal judge hearing claims about the New York City Housing Authority’s failure to comply with lead paint rules was not amused by City defense arguments that the condition of the apartments is so poor that tenants must have known and accepted the risks.
The New York Post also reported this week that, when Mayor de Blasio announced that between 2014 and 2016 there were only four children with elevated blood lead levels in NYCHA apartments that needed repair, he had just been told that the number from 2010 to 2015 was 202.
The U.S. Supreme Court, meanwhile, might have opened up property owners, painters and other businesses to new lead liability by refusing, Monday, to review a California State Court decision finding lead paint manufacturers liable for lead contamination in houses painted before 1951, when the companies stopped advertising lead paint for residential use. In an amicus, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce expressed fear that the decision could expose all sorts of businesses to liability for decades-old activities that were legal at the time.
Homeless cluster housing residents placed in apartments by the City through non-profit contractors are not entitled to rent stabilization protections, according to a State Supreme Court decision reported this week in Crains and the New York Law Journal (subscription required).
The Appellate Division, First Department, Tuesday, upheld a zoning decision that calls for open space requirements to be met on a ‘zoning lot’ rather than a building by building basis, contrary to the City Department of Buildings’ recent policy. The issue was whether rooftop open space that was only accessible to a particular building’s residents could be counted as part of the total available open space in the zoning lot when considering a new project. The Court said no. Only space open to everyone on the lot counted.
Proposition 10, the California referendum on expanding rent control, is only supported by 35% of likely voters according to a poll released this week. Forty-six percent oppose the measure. Rent regulations are most popular among 18-49 year-olds and least popular among those over 65.