Work to better protect children from lead poisoning has been a focus in Cleveland for years, with leaders and groups calling for more action.
Last month, News 5 reported that the City of Cleveland was dealing with a backlog of about 1,200 lead-safe applications submitted by property owners seeking certification that their rental units are lead-free. The applications are submitted after property owners have hired a certified risk assessor and have had their property inspected.
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On Friday, the city announced that the backlog is gone.
Cleveland’s Director of Public Health, Dr. David Margolius, said it required teamwork to assist the city’s building and housing department.
“We needed to bring everybody together from across the city — 22 volunteers from five different departments,” Margolius said. “The mayor kind of gave us a call to arms to all come together. We got trained up in March, and for the last three to four weeks, we've been working through these applications, and now I'm proud to report a backlog of zero.”
The application reviews were originally expected to take up to half a year to complete.
Margolius said the backlog was due to a number of factors, including a rush of applications submitted before more stringent testing requirements went into effect this past October, following an executive order from Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb.
Margolius stated that there’s still work to be done to ensure that property owners are complying with what’s required.
He noted that more than 24,000 rental units in the city are certified lead-safe, which is about half of the units on the city’s rental registry.
“We're still at only about half of the property owners who are on the rental registry applying for this lead-safe certificate,” Margolius said. “So, the next step is going to be to penalize the property owners who have not applied for lead-safe certification, and we expect that will bring a new surge in applications. Now, the good news is there are 22 of us who are all trained and ready to review these applications, so we're not going to fall behind again.”
Lead poisoning is most harmful to babies and young children, and it can cause brain damage, learning disabilities, attention problems, and behavioral issues.
“Our lead poisoning rate in the City of Cleveland is the highest in the country for cities of our size,” Margolius said. “We just have so much more lead paint compared to other cities that resemble us; right now, about one in five of our children are testing positive for elevated lead in their blood.”
Nearly 90% of the city’s homes were built before 1978, the year lead-based paints were banned for residential use.
