OFFICE
OF COUNCILMEMBER
|
 |
NEW
YORK, NY 10007
For Immediate Release
Contact: Miguelina Zorrilla
City Council to Pass Proactive Lead Paint Abatement Legislation
to Protect Low-Income Families and Children
New York, NY—The New York City Council is expected to approve Int. 607-A (Introduced by Councilmember Miguel Martínez) at today’s stated meeting. Speaker Miller, Councilmember Martínez and their city council colleagues highlighted the importance of Int. 607-A to address the threat of lead poisoning and to preserve rent affordability. “I have introduced Int. No. 607-A to make proactive lead remediation activities tax exempt. This law would allow responsible owners to do the right thing and address lead-based paint hazards throughout their buildings and prior to a lead poisoning or having a child occupant at-risk, as is the current law,” said Councilmember Miguel Martinez. “This legislation would protect children and families, support low-income tenants, and strengthen—while making more workable—New York City’s anti-lead policies.”
Int. No. 607 would reduce the risk of lead poisoning and protect low-income
families by:
• Permitting receipt of tax incentives for proactive lead-abatement
activities: The bill would permit the receipt of J-51 tax benefits for
the abatement of lead-based paint in an existing dwelling unit whether
the unit is vacant or not, regardless of whether the dwelling unit is
occupied or not occupied by a child under the age of seven. The legislation
is intended to apply to existing dwellings, including the common areas
of such dwellings. (Previously, J-51 benefits for lead-based paint abatement
work were only permitted in an existing dwelling after someone had already
been identified as having lead poisoning or in dwelling units occupied
by a child less than seven years of age.)
• Preserving rent affordability for low-income tenants: As our
communities face escalating rents, this bill would prevent the costs
of the City Council’s historic efforts to fight lead poisoning
from being passed on to those it was intended to protect, and it would
lead more owners to conduct remediation activities.
• Addressing onerous requirements, fee liabilities and regulations
that currently discourage owners from conducting lead remediation activities:
The existing HPD rules had required notification and prior cost estimates
that were unworkable for lead-based paint abatement activities for which
actual costs cannot be determined until the work is completed. Int.
No. 607-A also would provide that the “certified reasonable cost”
used by HPD for abatement of lead-based paint hazards would be based
on the actual costs for such abatement and new costs definitions would
be implemented according to newly established schedules by HPD.
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