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
Jan. 30, 2023. Cleveland.com. Four out of five rentals have yet to comply as Cleveland’s lead-safe law enters the next chapter. "Based on the numbers available, full compliance appears to be years, if not a decade or more, away, unless the pace of certifications picks up. Over the first three-quarters of 2022, the city received an average of 1,000 applications every three months. 'To reach a 7‐year goal of compliance (by 2028), the volume of…applications would need to reach approximately 2,500,' the auditor’s September report states." If you've been following the issue of enforcement, you may recall that a Mayoral effort to move ARPA funds to the Law Department for enforcement was challenged by LSCC supporters in Council.
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.
Here are some recommendations to improve enforcement of the Lead Safe Certificate Program
Housing Court. Impose no re-rent orders on properties where landlords are evicting tenants, but flouting the duty to certify their properties are lead safe.
Departments of Building and Housing, Public Health, and Law Departments to create a protocol for bringing non compliant owners to Court.
Develop civil receivership procedures for nuisance 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.