CLEVELAND — After decades of unfulfilled promises and unmet goals by Cleveland city officials, a group of community activists have drafted new legislation that they believe will finally take an aggressive approach to the city’s well-document lead problem.
Cleveland Lead Advocates for Safe Housing (CLASH), announced the proposed legislation at a press conference Monday morning. The proposed changes to city code come after two years of research and consultation with local and national experts on lead.
“The standard in Cleveland has to be raised to lead safe. Some people call that aggressive,” said former city councilman and CLASH member Jeff Johnson. “It has to happen. There is a crisis.”
The group’s announcement comes a couple of weeks after Mayor Frank Jackson, the City Council, and a smattering of charitable and philanthropic organizations announced the Lead Safe Cleveland Coalition. The coalition’s goal is to make Cleveland ‘lead safe’ within the next decade. The coalition will meet over the coming months to draft policy changes and identify funding sources.
In January, two new studies by Case Western Reserve University provided a sobering view of the staggering number of children who have elevated blood lead levels. The studies showed a quarter of kindergartners in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District began their education with a history of elevated lead. The studies also concluded there was a discernible disparity between lead exposure among children on the East and West Sides. Kindergartners attending schools on the East Side are far more likely to have elevated levels of lead exposure, the study said.
CLASH’s proposed legislation would require landlords to certify that rentals are lead safe when registering their properties with the city. Landlords would have until March 2021 to have their properties assessed or subjected to a more detailed lead inspection. Additionally, landlords would be required to disclose to prospective tenants whether or not the property has been deemed lead safe.
“The aim is a positive and incentive-based structure including financial incentives,” said attorney Rebecca Maurer. “You would never rent a home without knowing who was paying for the utilities. You would never rent a home if you didn’t know what day the rent was due. Lead safe status should be part of that same conversation.”
Tenants would also be empowered with additional rights when it comes to lead-infested properties. Tenants would be allowed to terminate their lease, suspend payments or pay a prorated portion of their rent until a landlord completes lead abatement.
Qualifying landlords would also be eligible for some financial assistance.
“The median cost to fix a home that tests positive for lead hazards can be as low as $300,” Maurer said. “Yes, some homes are going to be more expensive than that but this is a doable and achievable process to help protect our city’s children.”
The proposed legislation is a revamped version of similar legislation Johnson introduced in 2017. That legislation, however, was not given a hearing during the election year. If the proposed legislation follows a similar path, CLASH members said they will take it to voters on the November ballot.
Although there is no known safe level of lead in a child’s bloodstream, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has set a level of five micrograms per deciliter as a barometer to identify children with elevated levels. Children can be exposed primarily through lead-based paint that’s prevalent on much of the city’s aging housing stock. Exposure happens when the paint begins to peel, allowing it to be digested or inhaled. The federal government banned lead-based paint in 1978.
However, studies estimate that 80 percent of homes in Cleveland were built prior to 1978.
Lead and its impact is a sore subject for Jennifer Elkins, 29. Her young son and daughter have both tested positive for elevated lead levels. Elkins believes her children were exposed to the toxic heavy metal by the peeling paint from a neighbor’s nearby garage.
Although the neighbor’s garage has since been demolished, Elkins has already noticed changes in her son’s behavior. Exposure to lead can cause issues with cognitive development, affecting a myriad of things, including behavior, IQ scores, hearing and speech.
“He was so good. He was an angel. Then, all of the sudden like out of nowhere, he was real bad and wasn’t listening,” Elkins said. “He’s making me cry at night. This is not my baby. He was always so good and calm. We went to the doctors and they were testing him for lead poisoning. It was 18 [micrograms per deciliter].”
Elkins believes the time is now for Cleveland city leaders to take lead seriously. The city’s youth depends on it, she said.
“They are our future. We’re supposed to protect them, not harm them,” Elkins said. “It seems like it’s not as important as other things in the community. But [lead] is. It really is. It’s probably the most important.”
