Enforce Lead Safe Certificate Law
Enforcement is the pathway to voluntary compliance
Implementing the Lead Safe Certificate program requires the voluntary cooperation of owners of an estimated 80.000 owners of rental properties built before 1978. They will be required to register with the city and submit a lead clearance test to certify that their property is lead safe
Here's what's in the News
October 25, 2022. Cleveland.com. Compromise saves Cleveland’s $17 million lead safety law: Stimulus Watch. The headline is misleading, City Council reprogrammed some funds to the City Law Department to begin enforcement of years-old violations on houses which have already poisoned children. A step in the right direction after a decade of neglect.
October 28, 2022. Ideastream. Cleveland inspectors will survey 170,000 properties for lead contamination. Again the headline is confusing. Actually Building and Housing is trying to find what rental properties are not on the register and...while they are on the sidewalk, looking at the unregistered properties, they are checking for exterior violations. No testing, no fines, no naming and shaming. Another step in the right direction.
November 12, 2022. Toledo Blade. Lucas County's rental registration list grows after auditor threatens $150 fines. (paywalled) Send CLASH an email at clevelandleadsafe@gmail.com to get a transcript of the article.
Here are some recommendations to improve enforcement of the Lead Safe Certificate Program
Housing Court. Continue to require landlords who are seeking to file evictions to provide evidence that they have registered their property and complied with lead clearance testing requirements...despite opposition from the Northern Ohio Apartment Association. See our editorial on from February 2022.
Departments of Building and Housing, Public Health, and Law Departments to create a protocol for bringing non compliant owners to Court.
Develop civil receivership options for abandoned properties with lead violations in order to expedite rehabilitation or demolition.
Departments of Building and Housing, Public Health, Law, and the Housing Court should set up a system for handling tenant complaints related to lead poisoning.
Provide emergency relocation assistance for tenants displaced by enforcement actions.