YOUNGSTOWN Official attempts to clarify lead plan

Real-estate agents fear mandatory abatement will follow if tests are required.
By ROGER G. SMITH
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- City Health Commissioner Neil Altman wants to get a couple of things straight.
Yes, a proposed change to city lead laws would mean every single-family, owner-occupied home in Youngstown needs a test done before it can be sold or transferred.
The test could cost sellers $300 to $350. Results would show buyers if lead is underneath any one of up to 23 coats of paint.
No, expensive abatements won't be needed if lead is found.
"That's not at all the case," Altman said. "All we're asking is that they disclose to the potential buyer."
Not true: The idea that required abatements would cost $8,000 to $15,000 is a common and frustrating misconception the health department is hearing about the proposed change, he said.
Cleanup becomes an issue only if paint is loose -- such as in chips or dust -- and found to have lead. Even then, nothing within proposed changes to the law would hold up a home sale.
An easy way to avoid the whole issue, Altman said, is to fix the problem while preparing a home for sale. A property owner can cover chipped or peeling areas with new paint. The Mahoning County Health District will lend people a special shop vacuum to clean up the mess correctly.
"Any rational human being would want to fix that up and make the home more salable," Altman said.
The city's lead laws took effect in 1996. Officials considered including single-family homes in the testing requirement. They limited the law to rental property, however, because the city didn't want to take on too much at once.
Since, the city has cited hundreds of landlords for failing to clean up lead when required. Court cases are jamming the system.
That shows how big a problem there is, Altman said. That's why officials reviewing the law decided not to expand it. The city health board will consider the changes next month.
Serious situation: Nobody doubts lead is a problem, one that must be met head-on, said Jerry McKinney, president of the Youngstown Columbiana Association of Realtors.
His organization, however, opposes requiring a test before every sale. The association fears mandatory abatement will follow.
If that happens, thousands of Youngstown homes could be left virtually worthless. Abatements would cost almost as much as many homes can bring on the market, he said. Between 700 and 800 city single-family homes a year are sold or transferred.
McKinney points to state and federal laws that give buyers the option to have a lead test done.
"That's in place now," he said. "We just don't want it to be mandatory."
Few buyers, however, pay attention to the disclosure laws during a home sale, said Joe Diorio, director of Mahoning County's Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention program.
The best way to educate homeowners about lead dangers is when a property is sold, he said. Education, not forcing costly abatements, is the goal.
"This is just a great time to do a preventative approach, not a reactive approach," Diorio said.
Price considerations: Testing costs also are a factor, said Margaret Jenkins, president of the Mahoning Valley Real Estate Investors Association, which represents landlords.
City residents on low or fixed incomes will have a hard time affording the test or the money lost if buyers demand lead be cleaned up before a sale, she said.
Altman and Diorio are trying to reduce the inspection cost. The county, which does such testing, might offer a reduced rate. Altman might also try hiring a city sanitarian to do the assessments at a lower fee.
It's worth preventing lead poisoning, whatever the inspection cost, Altman said. The public pays between $8,000 and $16,000 a year to educate each child who suffers the effects.
"When you compare the costs ... there's no comparison. Absolutely none," Altman said. "Without it, we silently poison these children."
Sick children: Screenings last year showed 923 of 4,293 Youngstown children tested had lead poisoning. Of the children poisoned, 98 percent were age 3 or under --when lead does the most damage, Altman said.
Youngstown's statistics are extremely high and bode poorly for the future, said Dr. Herbert L. Needleman, a professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh.
He has studied lead in children for more than 30 years and written several articles on the topic over the past decade published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Needleman supports the city's expanding testing to single-family, owner-occupied homes.
"They are needed to fulfill our responsibility to protect our children," he said.
Research is showing that children become more violent the younger they are lead-poisoned.
"If it holds water like we think it does, it explains a lot," about the city and its problems, Altman said.
Those disregarding the new testing law would face a $100 fine and up to 90 days in jail. More important, the health commissioner could order an abatement and charge the work to the property owner.