NEW YORK – New York State Attorney General Letitia James announced today that she will provide $350,000 to Erie County to combat lead poisoning and reduce energy costs for low-income households. This funding continues the Attorney General’s (OAG) support for Erie County’s Window Replacement Program. The program has already replaced more than 560 windows in 54 residential units to eliminate lead paint hazards, improve energy efficiency and save energy for families. invoice. Funding announced today will provide up to eight new windows to at least 75 of her households serving low-income families.
“Aging windows are one of the main reasons low-income households are at highest risk of lead exposure and are forced to spend a significant portion of their income on utilities.” Attorney General James“The Erie County Window Replacement Program uses proven tactics to increase energy efficiency and save families money while tackling lead poisoning in children. We are proud to continue to support this important project. And thank you to the Polonkers County administrators for working with us to ensure safer, healthier and more affordable housing for those who need it most.”
“Addressing the hazards of lead paint is a continuing need in our community, and Attorney General James said he wanted to help low-income families eliminate lead hazards in their homes and save energy costs. We have shown our commitment to the problem of window replacement programs that we support.” Erie County Commissioner Mark C. Polonkers“This is a win-win and we thank the Attorney General for helping create a safer, healthier Erie County.”
“In our quest to eradicate lead poisoning in Erie County, we know that enforcement alone will not work. We also need a steady stream of funds to fix our homes.” Erie County Council Speaker April Baskin“In Buffalo, 64% of our homes were built before 1940, 30 years before lead was removed from our paint. We need a monumental home-to-home approach, and I thank the Attorney General for visiting me and my Department of Health representatives about our lead poisoning prevention initiative earlier this year. And thank you for investing these funds in the places our most vulnerable residents call home.
The Erie County Window Replacement Program assists homeowners and property owners who provide housing to low-income families to ensure that residential units built before 1978 are lead-safe, appropriately weatherproofed, and energy-efficient. guaranteed to be high. The OAG first sponsored the program in 2017, securing approximately $350,000 in grants from his settlement with Mattel and Fisher-Price over the sale of toys containing lead paint. An additional $350,000 of his grant, announced today, was secured through the National Mortgage Settlement and a Clean Air Act violation settlement with American Electric Power, one of the nation’s largest utilities.
The Buffalo metropolitan area has one of the oldest housing stocks among major cities and neighborhoods in the nation and has the highest average energy load, or energy cost as a percentage of household income, in the nation. is one of Protect your home from extreme temperatures, make your home more energy efficient, and save your family on utility bills by replacing old windows that are in poor condition. Painted windows in pre-1978 buildings often contain lead, and frequent friction when opening and closing windows can expose children and families to lead paint flakes and lead dust. There is a nature. Window replacement addresses these lead exposure hazards and is an important public health tool in low-income communities where lead poisoning occurs most frequently.
To qualify for the Window Replacement Program, residential units must be owned by families earning less than 90% of the median income in the area with children under the age of 6, or by vacant units regularly rented to low-income families. Must be occupied. with young children. This program is only available for Erie County homes and may require unit owners to pay up to 75% of the cost of window replacement as determined based on the owner’s income. Erie County has partnered with Belmont His Housing His Resources, a leading advocate of high-quality, affordable housing in western New York, to manage the window replacement for the program.
Attorney General James thanks the Polonkers County Executive, Chairman Baskin, the Erie County Council, the Erie County Health Department and Belmont Housing Resources for their continued cooperation.
The funding is the latest in Attorney General James’ efforts to end child lead poisoning in New York. In March 2023, Attorney General James sued Buffalo landlord Farhad Raizadeh for multiple and serious violations of lead safety laws at dozens of facilities. In November 2022, Attorney General James announced funding for an ongoing childhood lead poisoning prevention program administered by the City of Buffalo and County of Erie as a result of a lawsuit against a group of Buffalo individuals and businesses in September 2020. secured $5.1 million in restitution and fines to Areas that have illegally propagated lead paint-related hazards on rental properties. In June 2022, Attorney General James closed landlord John Kiggins and his company, Endzone Properties, for repeated violations of lead paint laws and failure to address the dangers of lead paint. Syracuse. In March 2022, the Attorney General led a multistate coalition to call on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to increase protections against lead poisoning, especially for children living in low-income communities and communities of color. rice field. In September 2021, Attorney General James announced that he had agreed to a lawsuit against Chestnut Holdings of New York, an asset manager, for failing to protect children from the dangers of lead paint in New York City. bottom. Also in September 2021, Attorney General James reached a pre-litigation agreement with A&E Real Estate Holdings, LLC to protect children living in New York City apartments from hazardous lead-based paint.
“The Buffalo and Erie County Lead Safe Task Forces are working with city, county, and New York state partners to eradicate lead poisoning in a variety of ways, and Attorney General James said that Erie County children should be We are unwavering in our commitment to protect from the hazards of toxic lead,” said Cara, senior director of policy and strategic partnerships for the Greater Buffalo Community Foundation and chair of the Buffalo and Erie County Lead Safe Task Force. Matteliano said. “The company’s support for window replacement is an important step in making homes a safe and healthy place for parents to feed their families. It will make a difference in the lives of young children who are exposed to common lead hazards.”