Lead Paint
The Cleveland City Council passed a law aimed at significantly reducing the number of children poisoned by lead in their homes, The Plain Dealer reports. The legislation aims to reduce the risk of lead poisoning that plagues more than 80% of the city's older housing stock and ends a months-long process of drafting and review. Several interest groups shared their plans with the Ohio city, while the city pledged to become lead safe by 2028. The initial form of the passed law was first introduced in June.
The law:
- Requires landlords to pay for private inspections and secure lead-safe certificates for their occupied rental units starting March 1, 2021.
- Relies on city-issued tickets and can charge property owners with housing code violations if they do not comply.
- Increases rental registration fees from $35 to $70 annually, with a cap of $30,000 for multi-unit buildings.
- Requires additional disclosures to renters and homebuyers about whether a home has an identified lead hazard.
- Creates a Lead Safe Advisory Board, a Lead Safe Housing Action Board, a Lead Screening and Testing Commission and a Lead Safe Auditor to track the progress and impact of the law.
Passing the law was one of many steps in a process. There’s still money to be raised, an infrastructure to serve landlord and families to create and a dilemma of balancing enforcement with keeping housing affordable, he said. With implementation slated for 2021, the city and its partners have “ample time to ratchet up work on the other parts of the puzzle” and make sure the lead prevention effort is sustainable.
The city next month will apply for a new five-year U.S. Housing and Urban Development grant that could bring more than $9 million to remediate homes in four census tracts that have older homes at high risk for exposing children to the toxin, Community Development Director Tania Menesse said.
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