CLEVELAND — In a tense public hearing, Cleveland City Council drilled Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority leaders with questions about lead safety.

 

What You Need To Know

  • Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released a report that found Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority did not adequately investigate lead-based paint hazards in their housing facilities.  

  • Wednesday, Cleveland City Council held a public hearing with lead safety advocates to discuss the investigation.

  • The Inspector General’s investigation found CMHA failed to report ten cases of children living in their facilities with elevated blood lead levels, and that before on-site investigations could be performed, the Authority painted over deteriorated paint in five units that housed children with elevated blood-lead levels.

  • In the hearing, the Authority’s Chief of Staff, Jeffrey Wade, said that everything that goes into their investigations took place before the units were painted, but the reports just weren’t filed.

This follows the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) releasing a report which found the authority did not adequately investigate lead-based paint hazards in their housing facilities.  

“When we get a report like this, it’s about ten, ten cases and the management of your properties across the board, that is frankly a slice of the pie,” said Council member Rebecca Maurer. “It’s only a slice of the pie, and we have to deal with the rest of it. And so, I want to acknowledge that while we dig into this slice of the pie today, all of us at the table are committed to dealing with the whole problem.”

There is no safe level of lead in a child’s blood, and it can cause irreversible damage to their brain and neurological development. 

The Inspector General’s investigation found CMHA failed to report ten cases of children living in their facilities with elevated blood lead levels.

It also found that before on-site investigations could be performed, the Authority painted over deteriorated paint in five units that housed children with elevated blood-lead levels.

In the hearing, the Authority’s Chief of Staff, Jeffrey Wade, said that everything that goes into their investigations occurred before the units were painted, but the reports just weren’t filed. 

“Every aspect of the process was complete,” Wade said. “So the certified risk assessor did every element of the process that was required. The aspect that was not done was a cumulative formalized report that expressed I did this, I did this.”

One resident who attended the hearing, Norman Edwards, former president of the Cleveland Black Contractors Group, didn’t find their answers sufficient.

“They did a horrible job for the citizens that they represent and the residents that they represent,” Edwards said. “This is terrible for the city of Cleveland. 2024, not 2014, not 2004, not 1994. We should we have to move forward as one.”

Cleveland Lead Advocates for Safe Housing, or CLASH, a citizen-led coalition, made several recommendations for CMHA and the Department of Public Health’s next steps. 

They’re requesting all children in CMHA housing built before 1978 to be tested for lead levels, lead safety training for all maintenance employees, access to CMHA properties for educational and resource fairs, and for council to make CMHA subject to the residents first legislation, so they are required to register all properties as lead-safe.

Council will meet for a summer session on August 17th, where more discussion on next steps is expected.