Demystifying How NYC Combats Lead Poisoning

By Anna Bouadze

For the first time in history, New York City’s fight against lead exposure has sparked the release of the 2025 Lead Compliance report, an annual report on the city’s efforts in lead tracking and prevention across school districts, public housing, childcare facilities, and private residences. This new report for 2025 details everything from the current status of lead risks to the next steps of eliminating existing lead positioning in New York City. 

While policies and regulations have taken the center stage in the public conversations around lead safety, this report has also detailed the expensive performances of the agencies responsible for putting rules to action. Agencies such as the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the Housing Preservation and Development, Department of Environmental Protection, New York City Housing Authority, and New York City Schools, have all played a distinct role in identifying risks, enforcing standards, and supporting New Yorkers.

The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene

The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) has monitored and reported blood lead testing of New Yorkers, reporting on the elevated blood lead levels (EBLLs) in 4,655 children, 285 pregnant individuals, and occupational workers. All children of the ages of one and two have been subjected to blood tests to determine lead levels, but reports find many children have gone without the testing, due to parental lack of awareness. In all positive cases, the DOHMH has been required by the city to investigate and implement enforcement and intervention measures. 

Lead prevention in children and pregnant individuals has been the most pressing task of the DOHMH’s efforts to safeguard public health in the wake of preventive lead poisoning measures. Care coordinators have been assigned to children detected with EBLLs of over 5.0 ug/dl (50 ppb), but enforcing lead testing in children in the ages of one and two has been hard for the agency. Underlying factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic, families moving out of the city, parental refusers, and provider assumptions of low risk in high income communities, have contributed to the participation rate staying consistently in the 70s during this decade.

The DOHMH has also been “proactively monitoring” homes identified to have lead risks. Compared to 2023, a 17% increase in inspections is noted, as the DOHMH monitored 1,119 buildings for compliance and conducted 2,663 inspections in 2024. 2,127 inspections were conducted in 893 buildings, in which the agency found 36% of which had unsafe work practice, and issued 463 Orders of Notices of Violation. The agency notes this as a 78% increase in inspections and a 54% increase in violations issues compared to 2023. Occupational exposures  have also been on the mind of the agency, as in 2018, every 15 of 100,000 workers experienced lead exposures of 10 mcg/dL, prompting the agency and the Department of Buildings to conduct joint 2-5 high risk building inspections per month, in order to save the health of workers and to ensure the safety of buildings in NYC.  

The Department of Housing Preservation and Development

The Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) has published reports primarily addressing the lead-based paint hazards in NYC housing. The department has pushed proprietary owners and landlords to accommodate new measures in combating lead poisoning, especially to protect high-risk children under the age of six. Intense X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) lighting was used to identify lead-based paint. The biggest roadblock for the HPD in combating lead-based paint has been accessing apartments and homes to conduct testing. This year, the department made efforts to change inspection hours to accommodate tenants. If, after three attempts, the department is unable to enter and conduct research, lead-based paint hazard violations remain open. 

The HPD received more than 81,000 complaints, a 19% increase since the previous year, prompting lead base investigations. The surge in complaints, along with the gradual demolition and renovation of aging housing stock, has led to an increase in public awareness and intensified concern, which has expanded the City’s capacity to identify and address hazardous lead contamination. HPD has also pushed the expansion of new lead safety audits under local laws 111,122, 123, and 127, covering common area testing, record-keeping compliance, and turnover inspections, but unfortunately is set to be delayed until 2025, due to the scale of work and tech setup necessary

The HPD has sent a clear signal. Compliance, cooperation, trust, and awareness are at the forefront of change. Non-compliant landlords were fined a total of $230,000, and new public outreach and education efforts have led to the creation of annual Lead Poisoning Prevention Week events, co-hosted with DOHMH.

The Department of Environmental Protection

Much of New York City’s tap water is delivered through 7,000 miles of lead-free aqueducts, tunnels, and water mains. The Department of Environmental Protection has taken measures to minimize the potential for lead exposure in private plumbing all over the city. There is much worry in the department, however, of the 857,000 private service lines connected to the City’s water system, 120,163 lines were detected to have lead, and 123,758 were determined to be made of unknown materials. Unfortunately, considering that all water lines in New York City are privately owned, the department has only replaced 6,200 lead lines, as the urgency has intensified to submit a Service Line Replacement to the state by 2027.

In 2021, the department received an influx of $72 million from Former-President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), and dispersed much of the funding to high risk areas, such as the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens. 

Thankfully, the department has pushed the distribution of lead testing kits, which has empowered many New Yorkers. 12,600 test kits were distributed, and approximately 50% were returned for further analysis.

New York City Housing Authority 

The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) continues to make progress in eliminating lead paint from 157,000 public housing apartments, as a result of a federal agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).  !09,952 apartments have been screened using X-ray Fluorescence testing, identifying 50,259 of them with lead paint. 13,000 units have been successfully abated, as the authority cites 500 abatements per month, a 25% increase from the previous year. The lead abatement program, also known as the Team for Enhanced Management Planning and Outreach (TEMPO) has managed most of the outreach, temporary relocation, inspection, and abatement programs in the NYCHA apartments. 

NYCHA and TEMPO have had federally mandated targets to have 50% lead positive units abated by 2029, with the rest needing full abatement by 2039. Progress has been very positive and on track. The Harlem River Houses and Williamsburg Houses, identified to have the highest levels of lead based paint hazards, have now been 99-100% abated, showing NYCHA’s unwavering success and the importance of focused investment and the Permanent Affordability Commitment Together (PACT) public-private partnership program. 

NYCHA’s biggest logistical challenges lay with their Visual Assessments (VAs). The VAs were conducted in 33,700 units across two phases in 2024. The first phases showed a compliance of 91%, while the second phase dropped to 65%, as landlords and tenants became less susceptible to inspections. 

New York City Schools (Department of Education)

Great progress has been made by the DOE, as all 74 of 893 schools that tested positive for lead-based paint inspections were successfully abated, and all 8,655 of 143,996 lead-positive fixtures were 100% remediated. Meeting the demand for the volume of pipes in the DOE system has been the biggest challenge for the department, as the DOE has committed to testing classrooms that serve children up to 6 years three times per year, and all common spaces once per year. DOE emphasises that roughly 7% of fixtures are above the 5 ppb action level due to stringent testing standards, as the DOE conducts their third round of water fixture testing.

Other Involved Agencies

Other agencies, such as the Department of Social Services (DSS), the Department of Buildings (DOB), and the Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) have published reports . The DSS has ensured that shelters and support housing stays safe, and in the 1,143 residential units tested, the DSS removed 197 units exposed to lead. The DOB has implemented new worker certifications and lead safe Tenant Protection Plans in order to encourage more lead-safe practices before issuing permits to contractors. If you find that your local park has shut down many drinking fountains, it may be due to the DPR testing over 3,500 outdoor drinking fountains, closing all with lead exposure, and building a website to track the testing process of drinking fountains across the city. 

A complex picture has been painted by New York City’s 2025 Lead Compliance Report. As ongoing challenges arise, measurable progress through each agency plays a distinct yet interconnected role in safeguarding New Yorkers from lead exposure. The departments have each taken up roles in identified ways to combat lead in the city. This is not a checklist of compliance, rather a city wide effort rooted in solving the crisis

Change in the city will be a marathon, not a sprint. As the city heads into a new year, the success of these initiatives will depend on maintaining cross-agency coordination, transparency, investment, and cooperation. We should all be demanding a lead-free New York City.

Anna Bouadze is a 2025 Fall Intern at NYLCV. She is a fourth-year student at New York University, majoring in Environmental Studies and Urban Design/Architecture. To learn more about Anna, visit https://www.linkedin.com/in/anna-bouadze-7823031ab/