Toledo-Lucas County Health Department officials have known for months, and in some cases more than a year, that people should not be living in lead contaminated homes where children had been poisoned, a Blade review of department records shows.
In the oldest case, at 116 Steel St., records show that health inspectors issued a report in October, 2014, detailing lead hazards in the home. Last September, health officials issued a “vacate” order for the property.
A woman who last week answered the door there with a small child, said she had moved into the house this month and was unaware of any lead hazards there.
More than 500 homes in Ohio, including the Steel Street address and 26 others in Toledo, were included on a list published this month by the Ohio Department of Health that have been deemed unsafe for habitation after a child living there tested with high lead levels, and property owners failed to make required repairs.
Local health department officials have since acknowledged “deficiencies” in the current system to ensure no one occupies the homes. When officials this month returned to each of the two dozen Toledo properties on the list they found 19 were still occupied — 14 rentals and five owner-occupied, said Dave Welch, environmental health services director.
“We’re telling them to get out of the house, the problem is nobody made sure they were out of the house,” Mr. Welch said. “It was placarded but we didn’t follow through to see if anyone was still living there. That’s where we fell short of the process.”
Currently occupied
A Blade report last week found more than half of the homes in Toledo ordered vacated are currently occupied, many with children in them. Many residents said they were unaware of the vacate orders or lead issues entirely.
“We just came back and checked within the last two weeks; they had not been checked for some time,” Mr. Welch said.
A review of risk assessment reports conducted by the health department shows orders to remediate properties with active vacate orders were given in 2014, 2015, and 2016.
When reached by phone by The Blade, the Steel Street house’s owner, Gregory Johnson of Oregon, said he was not interested in answering questions about the property and hung up.
State law gives property owners 90 days to repair identified hazards after a risk assessment report is issued detailing results of the property inspection and required improvements. Property owners can apply for three, 90-day extensions. If those expire, the property is deemed noncompliant and orders to vacate are given. Within 14 days of that order, health department officials are to post signs on residences warning of the hazard and vacate warning.
No follow up
On Friday, the health department provided The Blade additional documentation showing orders of noncompliance, orders to vacate, and certified mail receipts sent to property owners. Before the updated procedures, Mr. Welch said the department was not following up with property owners to make sure they were following orders and not continuing to collect rent or live in the homes.
All but five of the affected Toledo properties had risk assessment reports issued before June, 2016. A survey of vacate orders shows several were issued in late 2016 and in the first months of this year.
New procedures
The health department will improve its data collection and monitoring of such properties, Mr. Welch said. Officials will create a database to track the status of homes with vacate orders. The database will contain the property address, landlord contact information, documentation of each contact attempt, inspection date, compliance deadlines, the date a vacate placard was posted, and re-check dates.
Now noncompliance notices and vacate orders will be given to the tenant as well as the property owner, and tenants will get additional information.
New local procedure says placarded homes “shall be checked to verify that the home is still vacant or the home has been brought into compliance” within three months.
An initial published state list contained 27 noncompliant addresses in Toledo. Three properties have been cleared and another two have clearance inspections scheduled. Four more property owners are communicating with the department and working to comply, Mr. Welch said.
The database will also keep all documentation and other information in one place, Mr. Welch said. The initial response to The Blade’s request for all documents and related records showing communications between the department and owners of the affected properties did not contain the copies of the noncompliance and vacate orders.
“Our process, obviously we needed to shore it up,” Mr. Welch said. “That’s what we’ve done with the new procedure.”
ODH spokesman Melanie Amato said in a statement they are working with local health departments “to ensure that children are not living in housing with known lead hazards. This guidance includes the need to quickly initiate an investigation of a lead-poisoned child, to hold property owners accountable for controlling lead hazards identified during investigations, and to enforce an order to vacate the property if the owner refuses to control lead hazards.”
Risks and action
Lead poisoning can damage a child’s brain and nervous system, slow growth and development, and cause learning and behavior problems, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Lead-based paint, widely used in the United States before the federal government banned its residential use in 1978, is prone to releasing dust and chips that can be ingested.
Mr. Welch said the department is consulting Toledo’s law department and prosecutors to determine what legal action can be taken against noncompliant owners.
“One of the issues we’re grappling with is, are the standing orders OK to use or is it too long, do we have to start the process over?” he said. “If you’re going to go down this path, you have to have your ducks in order.” Ohio Revised Code provides that violators of the state’s lead laws can be subject to a fine of up to $1,000 and six months in prison for a first offense, he said.
“It is the administration’s responsibility to have policies and when those become a problem, it’s the board’s responsibility [to make sure] they are changed and followed,” Health board vice president Robert Reinbolt said. He said he was especially concerned about enforcement so that property owners who haven’t complied with orders are held accountable.
“It is unacceptable for a home to continue to be rented out when there is a lead problem there,” he said.
Lucas County Commissioner Pete Gerken called for an end to assigning blame to explain why properties weren’t followed up on and instead work to get people out of the unsafe conditions.
“The fact that there is a lot of finger-pointing going on while children are being harmed is indefensible,” he said. “We know these houses are bad, it doesn’t take finger-pointing to say who should do it, it takes action.”
He called it “tragic” when anyone is forced to leave a home, but “for us to have direct knowledge that children and families are in houses that are poisonous to them smacks of, on a smaller level, what we did in Flint with lead pipes.”
Mr. Welch said they are looking at options to help families. He plans to gather representatives from community organizations to work with families who now need to move.
“I keep saying we want to create somewhat of a safety net for these folks,” he said. “We’re the guys issuing the orders and so we’re trying to help. Nobody wants to see a family evicted. These families, their kid is lead poisoned, they are already a victim, then we vacate.”
Family House director Renee Palacios said there needs to be more available for people in such situations.
“There are more resources out there for people who have become homeless than for those who are on the brink of becoming homeless,” she said. “It’s not that easy to just get up and move. Transportation, resources, there are all sorts of factors that go into that.
“It behooves us as a community to help these families through this crisis,” she said. “It’s cheaper to help rehome people than it is to start all over again at a shelter. First month’s rental and a security deposit is cheaper than a homeless shelter, I guarantee that.”
Contact Lauren Lindstrom at llindstrom@theblade.com, 419-724-6154, or on Twitter @lelindstrom.
First Published May 21, 2017, 4:00 a.m.
