ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The City of Rochester is suing the owner of two homes, calling it a last resort after he ignored orders to fix lead paint problems that got into the bloodstream of at least two children.
The goal is to get the owner, who lives in Georgia, to fix the problems. The city says he’s had multiple opportunities and now he’s getting sued.
“This is 231 Webster Avenue. According to the city’s lawsuit it has 47 code violations including 23 listed as health and safety violations,” Berkeley Brean, News10NBC Chief Investigative Reporter, said.
“A child was living here in 2022 and when that child was tested it was found to have had elevated levels of lead in their blood,” Brean said. “And the city lawsuit none of the repairs have been made.”
The house is owned by From House 2 Home which is owned by a man named Matthew Hudson who lives outside Atlanta. The lawsuit says children in the homes he owns have been “poisoned by lead.”
No one answered the door at the house but there were dogs inside.
“That is 18 Marlow Street behind me. According to the city it’s got 13 violations and 7 are health and safety violations,” Brean said.
“I just spoke to the grandmother who lives there. There are children who live inside that house,” Brean said. “She says they’re working on the problems.”
The grandmother is the sister of Matthew Hudson. She did not want to talk on camera. She did promise to contact Mr. Hudson to contact me. As of the posting of this story, Mr. Hudson has not called or texted.
Berkeley Brean, News10NBC: “One of the things that struck me in the lawsuit is you say this is the last resort.”
Michael Furlano, attorney, City of Rochester: “So the city has administrative remedies. We issue tickets, we issue notice and order of violations.”
Michael Furlano is the city attorney who filed the suit.
“We’ve tried everything else. Now we have to go to court,” Furlano said.
Berkeley Brean: “The goal is what?”
Michael Furlano: “The goal is two-fold. The goal is to remedy the issue. That’s going to be our ultimate priority.”
“But there’s a larger picture goal of making sure this doesn’t happen elsewhere,” Furlano said. “So we use these cases as sort of a deterrent to everybody else to say hey, the city is serious about these issues. You need to fix your properties or you may be next.”
There were 231 children with elevated lead levels in their blood in 2023. Rochester has 28 percent of the population in Monroe County but 80 percent of the lead poisoning cases.
And that’s because of the older homes with lead paint that chips and turns to dust and children inhale. This is the first lead paint lawsuit the city has filed. They’re going through lead paint complaints, finding the homes that haven’t been fixed and preparing the lawsuit. The lawyer told News10NBC there’s more in the pipeline.
Lead paint poisoning is untreatable. Since work started to remove it from homes about 25 years ago, the city has seen an 80 percent decrease in the number of children who are poisoned. But for those who get it, it causes brain and nervous system damage.
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News10NBC Investigates: City of Rochester sues Georgia homeowner over lead paint violations, citing poisoned children WHEC.com.
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