CLEVELAND — The Lead Safe Cleveland Coalition stands united against Cleveland’s lead poisoning crisis, which endangers the health and future of our children. The coalition has brought together leaders across public, private, and community sectors, committed to collaboration and innovation to tackle this deeply entrenched issue.
While Cleveland’s lead-safe ordinance was passed in 2019 to address lead-paint hazards in the city’s older housing stock, implementation did not begin until 2021. Cities like Rochester, New York, needed over a decade to see meaningful reductions in lead exposure, and Cleveland will need to be just as persistent.
Despite early challenges like the pandemic and workforce shortages, over 38,000 units have been certified lead-safe by the city of Cleveland since the ordinance was passed, of an estimated 90,000 rental units. To meet the urgent need for lead-safe housing, the coalition has increased financial incentives, expanded eligibility criteria, simplified application processes, and added new administrators to boost capacity.
The coalition, with its 500-member network, supports implementation of the city’s ordinance and provides resources to property owners and tenants through the Lead Safe Resource Center and Home Fund, in collaboration with the city. We have received approximately $32 million of the $92.8 million committed to support our work and deployed $14 million to date.
This has facilitated over 4,300 incentives and over 300 grants for property owners, helped train over 750 lead workers, and established a Resource Center that fielded over 20,600 calls.
Recent data, covering just two years of progress, highlight remaining challenges, including children living in certified properties who still had elevated blood-lead tests. It is premature to link these cases directly to failures in lead-safe methods when multiple factors could be at play.
This new information is driving all partners to tighten and improve our approach. Reversing decades of lead exposure will take time, rigorous enforcement, and sustained funding.
Success will rely on a well-coordinated strategy, with each key player in the fight bringing essential expertise and resources.
Joining us with shared goals and distinct roles in this critical mission:
● The Cleveland Department of Public Health monitors and prevents lead poisoning, particularly in children, conducts environmental assessments, identifies lead sources, educates the public, and tracks exposure data.
● The Cleveland Department of Building and Housing issues Lead Safe Certifications, processes applications, inspects properties, and ensures compliance to protect residents’ health.
● The Cleveland Department of Community Development administers U.S. Housing and Urban Development lead-abatement grants to provide property owners with resources needed to address lead hazards.
Mitchell Balk is president of the Mt. Sinai Health Foundation.Courtesy of Mitchell Balk
Based on the recent data, the city of Cleveland is now contemplating amendments to the lead-safe ordinance, to continue lead-safe certification with an emphasis on abatement.
The evidence we have does not show that a lead-safe approach is ineffective, only that we need to work harder to protect children. Strategies such as interim controls, abatement, increased enforcement, and enhanced quality control will serve to strengthen the approach to decreasing child lead exposure.
Sharon Sobol Jordan, president and CEO of United Way of Greater Cleveland.
Lead-safe certification was selected as the initial approach because it offered a more immediate intervention while capacity for more extensive abatement efforts was gradually built. With 90% of Cleveland’s housing stock predating the 1978 lead paint ban, widespread abatement was financially unfeasible in the short term.
In partnership with Cleveland property owners, landlords, and the city, we support Mayor Justin Bibb’s call to action and stand ready to adapt as needed. This citywide crisis demands shared responsibility and partnership across sectors. We welcome ongoing dialogue to align and refine efforts and build a safer, healthier Cleveland. Our mission remains clear — until no child is at risk, we are not done.
Mitchell Balk is president of the Mt. Sinai Health Foundation. Sharon Sobol Jordan is president of the United Way of Greater Cleveland. Balk and Jordan are members of the Lead Safe Cleveland Coalition Executive Committee.
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