Residents First

What code enforcement efforts need to be addressed

Expand the Rental Registration base to include public housing - owned properties and identify and require RAD conversion properties. 

• The Problem: Rental Registration does not cover units owned by the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority. Also-CMHA units which have been transferred to private ownership through the RAD program should be covered. Are they? Sally Martin O'Toole comments suggest that the status of rental registration for CMHA is unclear.  "they have been a good actor for us we've been working with them especially on let's say things and they've been very very cooperative and very compliant." CLASH offers three recommendations:

1. Disclose any documents supporting the "working relationship between CMHA and City of Cleveland regarding housing and health code enforcement.

2. Make CMHA units subject to Rental Registration and Certificate of occupancy.

Create a fund, controlled by the Department of Community Development, to provide relocation assistance to households where there are existing lead hazards. CLASH Recommends:

1. 1. Households at risk of lead exposure can apply for funds and counseling to find safe housing.

• Children under 6 in LHCO units *need to resolve conflicts with the HUD grant waiting list properties

• Families of children referred to CDPH with an Elevated Blood Lead level. 

• Families with a child under 6 years of age after notification of another child in the building with an Elevated Blood Lead Level.

• Children under 6 in properties where Building and Housing inspectors have identified a lead hazard and landlord has failed to pass a clearance test within 30 days.

• Children living in a property which is condemned (uninhabitable) by the Cleveland Health Department or the Department of Building and Housing.

1. 2. Funds for financial assistance could come from the existing public private partnership, LSCC. 

   3. In addition to financial assistance, the existing, but never implemented Lead Safe Housing Action Board could assist with home search and other assistance. 

Strengthen enforcement efforts on properties with Lead Hazard Control Orders (LHCOs). 

1. The problem. There are currently around 400 properties in Cleveland with outstanding LHCO. Many are vacant, vandalized and poisoning the surrounding he properties. Others could be rehabbed if they can be transferred to responsible owners.So far the city has only taken baby steps to "crack down" on owners of LHCO properties. CLASH recommends:

• Increase the penalties for owners who fail to comply with LHCOs. Right now there is no penalty for non compliance and no incentives to get work done promptly

• Cleveland Law Department create a plan to initiate civil nuisance actions against properties which have outstanding LHCOs.

• Department of Community Development should reach out to residents of LHCO properties to offer relocation assistance to renters in LHCO properties. This function could be carried out by CDC's which receive funding from the Department of Community Development. 

• Department of Community Development provide training to CDCs and local entrepreneurs to become receivers who can manage nuisance properties. Chicago does it.

Expand resident participation in code enforcement

1. The problem: It is ironic that tenants have not been directly involved in plans for Residents First legislation. In a webinar held by CSU on September 23, 2023, Director Martin-O'Toole disclosed that "I'm also convening a realtor roundtable again something I had done for many years in South Euclid I talked to my good friend...Akil Hamid who is now the the president of the National Association of Realtors and he's a realtor that has been on the Southeast side of Cleveland." Later in response to a question about tenant involvement in the planning process, the Director name checked Phil Star "he's always very vocal for tenants" and stated that "Zach Germanek has one of our main people on the group as well has really represented a number of tenants, especially in the Slavic Village area. She also cited "all the work we've been doing with the moreland's group in Shaker Square on the city has filed for receivership actions in that area on apartment buildings with derelict owners we've been meeting with tenants regularly so our belief is that this package of legislation is going to benefit tenants quite directly...." (edited for clarity from webinar transcript) CLASH recommends:

   • Building and Housing should convene regular meetings with tenants in the same way that they hold regular meetings with the real estate industry. 

   • Building and Housing should expand tenant complaint process to permit online complaint process by text or email. Tenant filing a virtual complaint should receive copies of notices to landlords including copies of violation notices related to their rental unit or common areas in their buildings. 

   • Violation notices sent to landlords and copied to tenants should include the guidance in Codified Ordinance Section 240.9 which requires the use of lead safe practices in remediating code complaints.

   • Applications for Lead Safe Certification should include documentation that a tenant has been given Lead Disclosure information required in Codified Ordinance Section 240.6. 

   • Building and Housing should create a reliable way for tenants and homeseekers to identify the status of a rental property including rental registration, lead safe certification, occupancy status, and local agent in charge. This information should be available online, in person, and by mail.

Since RF was passed

March 12, 2023. Columbus Dispatch Columbus nuisance property team adds social worker, attorney to help displaced residents "The Columbus Zone Initiative — a city program focused on eliminating nuisance properties — is hiring new staff and rebranding to become the Property Action Team, Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein announced at a Tuesday news conference. The team — which started as a pilot program in 2008 — works with other city departments like the Columbus Division of Police to shut down properties that are unsafe, illegal or a hub for crime. Here's what you need to know from Tuesday's news conference. What's new with the Property Action Team? The Property Action Team consists of five city lawyers, each assigned to one of police division's patrol zones. Last year, Columbus police added a sixth patrol zone, so the team is hiring a sixth lawyer to go with it, Klein said. The team is also hiring a full-time social worker to help residents displaced or affected by nuisance properties. The social worker will join the team's existing cohort of social work interns from Ohio State University."

Background Reading

May 30, 2023 City of Cleveland Property Inventory - 2023
April 15, 2022. The Land. Cleveland City Council wants better system for tracking nuisance complaints. Will the city step up?

February 3rd, 2016. London School of Economics. The practice of demolishing abandoned houses in Cleveland, Ohio is limited in its capacity to address underlying causes of housing injustice''

Sep 29, 2016. WEWS. HUD report: CLE can't use funds for housing code enforcement. "A report just issued by The Department of Housing and Urban Development shows Cleveland has been improperly using hundreds of thousands in federal tax dollars for housing code enforcement. The HUD reports state Cleveland is not allowed to use block grant funds for housing code enforcement through its 19 community development corporation throughout the city."

October 2015. Lincoln Land Institute. Vacant and Abandoned Property. Remedies for Acquisition and Redevelopment

JULY 6, 2015, Next City Cleveland to Bring New Tech Tools to the Fight Against Blight. "Since moving from spreadsheet to cloud, the Building and Housing department has continued to embrace innovation.

CITY OF CLEVELAND, DEPARTMENT OF BUILDING AND HOUSING, DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION CODE-ENFORCEMENT PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT, 2014-2017

February 2014. Code Enforcement Partnership in Cleveland. Cleveland City Council

Winter 2012. Keating and Lind. Responding to the Mortgage Crisis: Three Cleveland Examples

Feb. 27, 2011. Community groups teaming with Cleveland in program to fight neglect and blight

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