Syracuse finds thousands of lead paint violations in year one of enforcement

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — For the past year, the City of Syracuse Code Enforcement team has had the ability to cite lead paint issues. The head of the department said they've issued thousands of tickets as efforts continue to help prevent kids from becoming lead-poisoned.

Jake Dishaw, the deputy commissioner of Code Enforcement and Zoning Administration, said that the city identified around 3,000 violations in about 1,600 properties since last autumn. Of those violations, he said about 61% — approximately 1,830 violations — are now closed.

"It's a huge step in the right direction to go from zero to what we did in year one," Dishaw said.

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The Syracuse Common Council first passed the ordinance making lead paint a code violation in 2020; after delays attributed to red tape and the COVID-19 pandemic, enforcement began in August of 2022. When a violation is identified, owners must then follow up with a certified contractor approved by the city to deal with the problem; and a third-party tester will then ensure that the paint has been properly abated. According to Dishaw, it's nearly impossible to fully remove paint from homes but the abatement process should provide safety for at least 20 years.

He also noted that grants are available to assist owners to cover the cost of abatement if they or their tenants hit certain qualifications.

According to U.S. Census data, about 76% of homes in Syracuse were built before 1978; the year that lead paint was outlawed. The presence of lead paint in homes continues to poison hundreds of kids in the city each year; in 2022, the Onondaga County Health Department recorded 453 new cases, meaning 453 children and their families learned their lives would be forever altered. Lead poisoning can have a drastic, irreversible impact on cognitive and motor skills, with some researchers continuing to find links between impulse control issues and acts of violence.

Kids in the city make up the overwhelming majority of lead poisoning cases in Onondaga County, and the poorest census tracts in Syracuse are disproportionately impacted.

Dishaw is not discouraged by finding thousands of violations, in fact, he said that this is a positive, because they are finding places that might otherwise poison a child without an owner or tenant being aware. Code enforcement identifies these problems during routine checks on a three-year basis at properties that are on the city's rental registry.

"I'm really really confident that if we keep doing that year after year after year there will be a significant drop in blood lead levels," Dishaw said, "after six years, that should be two cycles through these, we should see a big difference overall in numbers."

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However, the rental registry is far from complete. About 40% of eligible properties are not on the registry, meaning around 4,000 properties are not picked up under this system unless a tenant or owner specifically flags a problem. Oceanna Fair, a long time lead poisoning advocate with Families for Lead Freedom Now, said this is part of the reason why she believes the lead ordinance program is not where it needs to be.

"We have to get better about our communication, holding these landlords accountable," Fair said.

According to Fair, neighbors in some of the hardest hit areas are not provided enough information to adequately advocate for themselves; sometimes there is a disconnect even when they are speaking directly with a member of code enforcement. As for the rental registry, she said that city and county governments should work together on providing more carrot-and-stick incentives to get landlords to sign up, such as withholding rental assistance programs.

Dishaw said that the ultimate goal is to get every eligible property on the registry, and the numbers have improved in the past year. For now, he said he is hoping to see more progress in year two of the lead ordinance.