Lead and Lies:

Albany’s West Hill and the Forgotten Children

In Albany’s West Hill neighborhood, 23% of children tested in 2020 had elevated blood-lead levels, a rate more than four times the national average. Lead poisoning permanently damages the brain, reducing IQ and increasing risks of behavioral disorders, yet families here have lived with it for generations.

The culprits are peeling lead paint in pre-1978 housing and lead pipes running beneath crumbling streets. Landlords are legally required to remediate hazards, but enforcement is sporadic. Tenants who complain risk retaliation or eviction. City inspectors cite properties, but many cases vanish in administrative limbo. Fines go unpaid, and slumlords re-rent units without fixing hazards. Statewide rental registry laws are supposed to help, but loopholes allow chronic violators to keep operating.

Questions That Demand Answers

• How many landlords in West Hill have repeated lead violations, and what’s their political clout?
• What percentage of cited properties have actually been remediated?
• Why has New York not adopted universal lead testing for rental units?
• Where is federal HUD funding for lead hazard reduction going — and is it enough?

Every year of delay means another wave of children entering schools already at a cognitive disadvantage. The moral question: How many IQ points are we willing to sacrifice to protect negligent landlords’ profit margins?