Five ways to reduce lead poisoning in Cleveland explored so far

CLEVELAND, Ohio-- City Council continues this week to explore solutions to ensure that no home the city has already identified as a lead poisoning hazard harms another child.

Council members have suggested some fixes. So have non-profits and housing court officials who deal the issue.

Some ideas were prompted by The Plain Dealer series Toxic Neglect, on how the city might cure its legacy of lead poisoning.

Yet to come, however, are concrete proposals for changes or long-term solutions, such as routine inspections of rentals for possible lead hazards.

City Council's third hearing on the issue begins at 9 a.m. Thursday.

Here are five of the potential changes:

1. Revamp the rental registry

The city's rental registry may be a way to track landlords and generate revenue to bolster lead and housing code inspection efforts, according to council members and area non-profit groups.

But only about a third of estimated rental properties in the city are registered. Roughly 33,800 out of 91,000 units were registered this summer, according to city records and 2012 Census estimates.

Building & Housing Director Ron O'Leary said during a council hearing that the number of rentals in the city was unknown and a "moving target."

The city will now use a number of methods to identify properties that should be registered, including reports of tenant agreements from utility companies, monthly lists of landlords who file for eviction provided by Housing Court and county property records, O'Leary said.

The rental registry could bring in $ 2 million a year, money that could be used to pay for efforts to reduce and prevent lead poisoning, Environmental Health Watch Executive Director Kim Foreman told council during last month's hearing. She also suggested that the city make mandatory that landlords who register prove their rentals are lead safe.

The original intention of the registry and the $35 registration fee was to generate revenue to support inspections of rental housing but it hasn't been enforced.

The Plain Dealer, months ago, made a public records request to the city asking how much money the registry generated and where that money was spent. The city has not provided the information.

The city also has the option to file charges against landlords who fail to register properties, according to Housing Court Judge Raymond Pianka, but that rarely happens.

2. Make lead hazard information publicly available

Federal, state and local laws require property owners to disclose known lead paint hazards when selling or renting a home. But little public information exists to help buyers determine whether properties have been identified as dangers.

Buyers can request a lead risk assessment, but it isn't part of routine inspections required by banks or lenders, and costs between $300 and $600.

An analysis of Cleveland lead inspection data and county property transfer records maintained by Case Western Reserve University's NEO CANDO shows that in a five-year period, roughly 140 properties the city identified as lead hazards were transferred to new owners.

About 60 of the properties were auctioned at Cuyahoga County Sheriff's sales and 80 more were transferred through other types of sales.

Cleveland, by law, requires property owners to fill out a form indicating whether the home they are selling was condemned or had code violations. Lead hazards aren't included on this city "Certificate of Disclosure" form.

That's something Building & Housing Director Ron O'Leary said he'd look into.

The disclosures not only help the city track mortgage and title companies that fraudulently flip real estate but could serve as a place for tenants and buyers to get information.

Cuyahoga County uses a different stop-gap measure to warn potential home buyers about lead hazards: by filing a document called an "affidavit of fact" with the county fiscal office, the county Board of Health makes lead hazards a matter of public record.

In the past five years, the board of health, which handles lead poisoning cases outside the city, has filed 61 such affidavits, according to John Sobolewski, supervisor of the county's lead poisoning prevention program. He said 14 of those affidavits were rescinded after the lead hazards were fixed.

Sobolewski said the affidavits aren't required by law but notify buyers and alert them of their responsibility to correct hazards.

"If they don't do their due diligence that becomes their problem," Sobolewski said in an email.

Housing Court Judge Pianka has used the process once, in a case where a woman who had a case in his court lost her property through a tax certificate foreclosure and the city's Building & Housing Department routinely files the affidavits of fact for homes that the city has condemned.

It hasn't used the process for unabated lead hazards though, city officials say.

3. Alert buyers at sheriff's sales to homes with lead hazards

Foreclosure, or sheriff's sales, are exempt from state laws requiring that lead hazards be disclosed to buyers. Properties are auctioned off "as is."

That isn't the case everywhere.

In Massachusetts, state regulations require a notification of lead-based paint hazards as a part of each sale - including foreclosure sales, according to Omar Cabrena, a department of health spokesman.

Each property buyer also has to acknowledge in writing that they understand that they will not have the opportunity for a lead inspection prior to the sale.

4. Use 'do not rent' orders

City council members asked during a December lead poisoning hearing about whether Housing Court could use "do not rent" orders to prevent homes known to be hazardous from poisoning additional children.

Pianka said he has that power. To exercise it, though, a city prosecutor must request the action and also must provide proof the home or apartment has been inspected, and that a code violation or hazard exists.

If a landlord were to be caught defying the order, he or she could be held in contempt of court and jailed for up to 30 days, or fined up to $250, he said.

City officials rarely request such actions in lead poisoning cases.

5. Declare hazardous homes a nuisance

The city can request that homes with lead hazards be declared a nuisance, given the proper evidence, Pianka said.

That happens about 25 times a year, mostly in cases of hoarding or similar health hazards. It's also been used occasionally in drug-related cases.

"It's quite a useful tool but it's not often used by the city," he said.

Cleveland's health code allows the city's Environment Commissioner to declare a property a nuisance and to abate or fix a hazard if a property owner does not, and to charge the cost of the work to the owner.

In extreme cases, a "nuisance" home can be handed over to a court-appointed caretaker, called a receiver, and be demolished at the order of the building director.

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