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Lead-free rental initiative in city praised
By WILLIAM K. ALCORN
YOUNGSTOWN
The success of the local lead-free home initiative has received praise and help from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Youngstown is the only major Ohio city to implement such a private/public program, which is funded by The Raymond John Wean Foundation and city of Youngs-town, said Matthew Stefanak, commissioner of the Mahoning County District Board of Health.
Traditionally, legal action against owners of rental properties with dangerous lead levels involves the threat of criminal misdemeanor prosecution in the lower municipal court resulting in a fine.
But the Youngstown plan, led by the Mahoning County Family and Children First Council, is an approach that threatens property loss through civil charges in common-pleas court if an owner fails to remediate lead hazards.
Specifically, violators are charged under the Youngstown Board of Health’s lead-poisoning- prevention regulation, and enforcement is done through a state nuisance statute that can be used to enforce local regulations, health officials said.
“The threat of losing one’s property has proven to be a much more effective legal deterrent than the threat of criminal misdemeanor prosecution,” said Neil Altman, health commissioner of the Youngs-town City Health District.
“We’ve seen such a big difference in these two methods of reducing lead-hazardous housing that we encourage law-enforcement officials in other communities to follow our lead,” he said.
Another measure to fight lead hazards, Stefanak said, is authority for the county health board to attach affidavits to property deeds that inform potential buyers that a lead hazard exists.
“We’ve had people buy homes and not know there is a lead problem,” Stefanak said.
The Family and Children First Council began the initiative in May 2005 with its Action Plan to End Child Lead Poisoning.
A key strategy of the plan is to reduce the county’s number of noncompliant housing units, which are those whose owners have refused to remediate lead hazards, and preventing rental properties with uncorrected lead hazards from being occupied, Altman said.
Implementation of the plan resulted in a drop in the number of uncorrected rental units for the first time since the boards of health began monitoring lead hazards in 1996, Altman added. The special prosecutor for the program is Attorney Angela Mikulka.
The initiative is funded with a $10,000 grant from the Raymond John Wean Foundation, an amount matched by Youngstown.
“Medical studies have shown that children who experience elevated lead levels in their blood also experience hindrances in their learning and developmental abilities. This translates to difficulty in school and difficulty in life,” said Mayor Jay Williams.
Upon discovering and being impressed by the lead-abatement program on the county health board’s website, local officials said attorneys from the EPA and HUD joined in the local efforts by negotiating con sent agreements with several local rental-property owners to make more than 100 of their units lead-safe.
“The federal assistance was an unanticipated benefit that multiplied the effectiveness of our local enforcement initiative,” said Stefanak, who also is chairman of the Family and Children First Council.
Under the program, when owners refuse to comply with lead-safe standards, a receiver is appointed to remediate or demolish their properties. The properties are then ordered for sale and a lien placed on them for the receiver’s home- improvement costs, Stefanak said.
From the action plan’s adoption until now, the number of uncorrected lead-hazardous rental units has dropped from 237 to 143, Altman said.
“Until we protect all young children who are continually exposed to lead, many will suffer irreversible developmental delays, start school with learning impediments and exhibit delinquent behavior when they reach adolescence,” Stefanak said.
Public-health officials estimate that child lead poisoning costs local taxpayers more than $500,000 each year for special education, medical care and juvenile justice.