A guide for NYC tenants that explains how to identify lead hazards in their home and hold their landlord accountable for repairs.

Community Partners

<h2>What’s the issue? </h2>
Lead is a heavy metal that’s often found in old paint and pipes. Lead is toxic to people and can create health issues, especially for children. The use of lead paint in homes was banned in 1960, but many buildings in NYC still have lead in their paint. Low-income neighborhoods and communities of color often have older, poorly maintained buildings which means they have the highest risk of lead hazards and lead poisoning.
NYC passed Local Law 1 of 2004 (the New York City Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act) to protect families from childhood lead poisoning. Under the law, landlords are required to inspect apartments and common spaces for lead hazards, notify tenants of any hazards, and fix them as soon as hazards are found. But, there are currently no city agencies holding landlords accountable to the law. The law involves several agencies at different points, and tenants are often confused about who to contact and when.
Additionally, when tenants report lead hazards, landlords often provide temporary fixes or do the work with untrained workers, putting tenants at further risk. Many tenants who report hazards also experienced intimidation or harassment from their landlords, and felt like landlords were purposefully neglecting their apartments in order to get higher paying tenants into the building.
<a href="https://nyccli.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"></a><a href="https://weact.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">WE ACT for Environmental Justice</a> is a community-based nonprofit organization serving all of Northern Manhattan. Their mission is to build healthy communities by ensuring that people of color and/or low-income residents participate meaningfully in the creation of sound and fair environmental health policies and practices. WE ACT needed a guide that outlined tenants’ rights, what landlord compliance looked like, and offered resources if landlords didn’t follow the law. 
<h2>What did we make? </h2>
WE ACT for Environmental Justice collaborated with CUP and illustrator Dennis Madamba to create Chipping Away at Lead, a guide for low-income and BIPOC families in NYC, specifically in the most lead poisoned neighborhoods in the city like Washington Heights, the Lower East Side, Bedford Park, Flatbush, and Ditmas Park.
Chipping Away at Lead explains how to identify lead hazards in your apartment building, what your landlord is required to do under the NYC Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act, and how to hold your landlord accountable to making repairs. The guide follows a fictional family through their building to show where lead hazards are commonly found and what the repair process will look like. It also shows what actions you can take with your neighbors to put pressure on your landlord.
 
<h2>How did we make it?</h2>

We spoke to tenants to learn about their experience getting lead hazards removed from their homes. We learned that for many, it’s difficult to hold landlords accountable. Tenants are sent to several different agencies and there isn’t an effective enforcement strategy in place so tenants see their landlords choosing to collect fines and violations since paying the fees are cheaper than addressing the issue itself. 

To address these concerns, we dedicated a spread to each of the major challenges tenants face when dealing with lead hazards. After going into the required responsibilities of the landlord, we show tenants how to identify hazards within your apartment and building so tenants can call 311 and hold their landlord accountable, if their landlord doesn’t address the hazards. 

Because tenants said they weren’t sure what the repair process should look like, we visualized what workers are required to do. If families stay at home during the repairs process, they may be put at further risk if repairs are done improperly. We clarified what safe work practices have to be done, in what time period they must be done by, and how to hold your landlord accountable if they’re not meeting those requirements.

We decided to share this process through the narrative of a family living in an apartment building. We moved away from a child narrating the information to the reader and made the parent the main character since they would be the one asking for repairs and escalating with the City. Upon opening the resource, you see a family moving into the building since these rights apply to new and existing tenants. To close the resource, we show neighbors organizing together. Throughout our community sessions, community members shared they found the most success with repairs when organizing with their neighbors. Tenants stressed that real change happened once they came together collectively so we wanted to reflect that back in our illustrations.

WE ACT members review a design draft of the tool.

Chipping Away at Lead will be distributed through WE ACT’s members involved with their Healthy Homes campaigns. WE ACT is also part of city and state-wide coalitions fighting against lead poisoning, New York City Coalition to End Lead Poisoning and Lead Free Kids New York, and will distribute through their partners and use this tool to advocate for stronger, more comprehensive policies.

The booklet explains why lead hazards and lead poisoning are still an issue, what the New York City Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act requires landlords to do, and what to look for in your apartment and building if your landlord doesn’t comply. The second half of the tool outlines what the repair process looks like, how to organize with your neighbors, and what resources are available if you need to escalate the issue.

Check Out the Project

Chipping Away at Lead Final Digital

CUP
<a href="https://welcometocup.org/people/clair-beltran" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Clair Beltran</a>
<a href="https://welcometocup.org/people/utsa-ramaswami" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Utsa Ramaswami</a>

Community Partner
<a href="https://welcometocup.org/people/we-act" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">WE ACT for Environmental Justice</a>

Designer
<a href="https://welcometocup.org/people/dennis-madamba" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Dennis Madamba</a>

Project Collaborators

Good Cause NYC

Is Your Home Making You Sick?

Tenants' Rights to Repairs

What's Going On in the Neighborhood?

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Hyperakt is a purpose-driven design and innovation studio that elevates human dignity and ignites curiosity. Since 2001, co-founders Julia Zeltser and Deroy Peraza, along with the Hyperakt team, have been partnering with change-makers moving society forward. We believe in design’s power to build a future filled with courage, optimism, and honesty.

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The Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP) is a nonprofit organization that uses the power of design and art to increase meaningful civic engagement in partnership with historically marginalized communities.

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