More homes unsafe from lead paint

Digging deep

Our reporters used Ohio public records law to find homes declared uninhabitable because of lead risks. Reporters talked to the families with children living in those homes, as well as public health officials.

Where are children most at risk in Ohio for lead poisoning, and which houses have been declared too dangerous to live in? Explore with our interactive page on MyDaytonDailyNews.com.

How to minimize lead risk

Residents of structures built before 1978 should assume their homes have lead unless tests show otherwise. Families can reduce the risk of lead exposure to children and pregnant women by following these guidelines:

Source: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Families in Montgomery County are being forced out of their homes, and others are living with children in rented homes deemed unsafe as funding to help property owners fix expensive lead-based paint problems has dried up, an I-Team investigation found.

The county health department has issued nine “Not to Occupy” orders this year against homes where children suffered lead poisoning and the lead dangers weren’t fixed as ordered by health officials. These orders prohibit anyone from living in the homes.

This is the same number of homes that were ordered to be vacated in the past three years combined, when a federal grant paid for lead abatement.

“We would anticipate an increase in ‘Not to Occupy’ orders because of the lack of funding available to abate the lead nuisance,” said Tom Hut, who oversees the lead program for Public Health-Dayton & Montgomery County.

Funding to fix problem homes came from a three-year, $3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development until the grant ended in 2013 after $2.1 million was spent. The program paid out an average of $11,500 per home to address lead risks.

But enforcement of these “Not to Occupy” orders has been lax. The health department has never taken someone to court to enforce an order, instead mailing numerous notices that some property owners claim to have not received — sometimes while renting the houses to families.

Gary Knight, his girlfriend and his five children — ages 15, 14, 12, 4 and nine months — unknowingly moved into a duplex on Huffman Avenue in Dayton where the health department repeatedly has posted signs saying the unit is unsafe due to lead.

They signed a lease June 13 and said they paid more than $800 for a security deposit and rent for part of June and all of July. Knight didn’t learn the house was under a “Not to Occupy” order until July 9 when his daughter found the most recent notice posted on the door.

Knight’s unit has been under a “Not to Occupy” order since May 16 and warning signs were posted four previous times, according to county records. The health department issued the “Not to Occupy” order after a child who lived at the property was found to have lead poisoning in July 2013.

Knight said his landlord refused to refund his money. “I told him, ‘You just got me for $800,’ ” Knight said.

‘Lead is poison’

Lead is a poisonous element that is unsafe at any level in the bloodstream and can affect nearly every cell in the body, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It was commonly used in household paint for decades and is in millions of homes, but becomes hazardous to young children when it peels or flakes and can be ingested.

Lead has been banned from household paints since 1978.

“Lead is toxic; lead is poison,” said Dr. Maria Nanagas, director of the Lead Poisoning Clinic at Dayton Children’s Hospital. “Once you get lead poisoning, it is irreversible.”

Lead exposure in children can result in damage to the kidneys and nervous system, learning disabilities, behavioral problems, decreased growth, and in cases of high exposure, seizures, unconsciousness and even death, according to HUD and the Environmental Protection Agency.

State law requires lead testing for all children younger than 6 on Medicaid assistance, those living in high-risk ZIP codes identified by the state, or children who spend time in older homes. If a deciliter of the tested child’s blood shows lead in excess of 10 micrograms, health officials are required to investigate.

Property owners of homes found to have lead hazards are given 90 days to clean up or isolate the lead source before the department issues a “Not to Occupy” order on the structure.

Ohio had 154,436 children tested for lead in 2012, the most recent statistics available from the Ohio Department of Health show, including 6,797 in Montgomery County and 1,615 in Greene County. Statewide, 1,553 children were diagnosed with elevated levels of lead in their blood in 2012.

Health officials say Montgomery County has had grants available to help homeowners with the high cost of lead abatement since the 1990s. To qualify for help from the most recent grant, the tenant of the home had to earn less than 80 percent of the area’s median income, or $48,150 for a family of four in 2013.

But the most recent three-year HUD grant expired last summer after slightly more than $2 million was spent. The county says funding was cut off before it could find enough homes that fell under the average $11,500 per home threshold specified under federal guidelines.

“We needed more time,” said Montgomery County grant administrator Tawana Jones. “We probably needed more funds to help reduce the cost on individual units, especially in the city of Dayton, which we just didn’t have.”

The county couldn’t get a new grant because it lacks matching funds, county officials said. It hopes to renew the lead grant in the future.

‘Not to Occupy’ homes occupied

Using Ohio public records laws, the I-Team acquired from the health department a list of properties under “Not to Occupy” orders, where officials put up notices saying the homes are unsafe for human habitation.

I-Team reporters visited seven of the properties and found three units where renters said they were unaware of the “Not to Occupy” orders.

The owner of two of these homes — including the unit rented by Knight — is Jeff Owens, president of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Big Hill in Beavercreek and a member of the National Association of Realtors.

Owens said in two phone interviews that he was unaware of any lead problems at his properties, including a duplex on Hearthstone Avenue. This unit is under a “Not to Occupy” order that was issued in June after a lead hazard assessment two days before Christmas.

“I’ve received nothing from any legal authority,” Owens said. “No one has contacted me to do any inspection.”

Records obtained by this newspaper show the county health department attempted several times by mail to contact Owens at his real estate office regarding the properties.

In July 2013, the health department sent two notices addressed to Owens about the Huffman Avenue property, first by certified mail and then by regular mail, followed by another certified letter in May 2014, according to a timeline provided by the health department.

These certified letters addressed to Owens were unclaimed, according to the timeline, meaning they were never signed as received.

Knight and his family were still living in the home as of last week. An eviction notice was filed Monday because, said Owens, he never received any money from Knight.

“I’m only asking him to vacate the property,” he said. “He will end up living there for free.”

Knight’s girlfriend, Jessica Jones, provided receipts and documentation from Owens’ office showing the family paid at least $425 for the deposit and rent for half of June. She said she also paid July rent — which would bring their payments to Owens to more than $900 — but couldn’t find the receipt.

“I’m going to try to get a couple of paychecks together and I’ll get out of here,” Knight said. “At the same time, I don’t want to give him the rent money and let my kids get sick. My options are slim to none.”

‘Full disclosure’

The health department sent three certified letters to Owens’ business address between February and May 12 regarding the Hearthstone Avenue duplex. Each was returned unsigned.

When inspectors asked the tenant to inform the landlord about the lead control order, the tenant stated that the landlord “would most likely ignore the order,” according to the timeline provided by the health department.

Only one half of the Hearthstone Avenue duplex is under a “Not to Occupy” order. Tony Stocks, who has lived in the other half since March 2013, said he recently tested his children — ages 13 and 14 — and is awaiting results.

The process for declaring the other half of the duplex unsafe was triggered by a child’s elevated lead level. Stocks said the previous tenants had moved out after their child got sick from lead. The newspaper was unable to reach that family to verify Stocks’ comments.

April Human last week was cleaning the vacant unit for her son, who she said was planning to move in. She did not know if he was aware of the lead order.

Stocks said he’d like to see “full disclosure” about the home he is renting for $600.

‘It needs to be condemned’

Chris Buckner says lead in the house he rented on Mary Street until last Sunday was the reason his 2-year-old daughter couldn’t live there, and his 6-year-old son couldn’t stay overnight.

“He keeps saying, ‘Can I spend the night? Can I stay the weekend?’ ” Buckner said of his son Nicholas. “It’s not fair to us.”

Nicholas lives with his mother while Buckner’s daughter, KyiLeigh, is in foster care. Buckner said Children Services took away his daughter when the girl’s mother lived in the house. The mother is no longer there and Buckner said he has met the requirements to get his daughter back — except for the lead.

The lead order was issued after KyiLeigh was found to have lead in her blood after a routine doctor visit. An inspection of the home found lead hazards on the porch, garage, and exterior walls, resulting in a risk assessment report spelling out the repairs needed to make the home safe to occupy.

Buckner said the landlord did nothing.

“(The landlord) wants the rent money and don’t want to fix nothing,” he said. “It needs to be condemned.”

Buckner learned from reporters that a “Not to Occupy” order was issued 0n May 7. He and his girlfriend found another apartment.

County records list the owner of the Mary Street property as Shedrick Johnson, who is serving a two-year prison term on a child endangerment charge out of Greene County. The “owner’s agent” is listed as Christy Johnson.

Christy Johnson spoke to health department officials in September after the lead report was issued, and “said they were working on it” and that the tenants moved out in March, the health department shows. Buckner said he lived in the home for four years.

A woman at the home last week who identified herself as a co-owner of the property said she was in the process of cleaning it up but was waiting for the tenants to leave.

‘I don’t want anybody to get hurt’

Other property owners are struggling to fix lead problems in their homes. Carla Rodriguez’s 3-year-old daughter was diagnosed in 2013 with a blood lead level three times what is considered dangerous, as Rodgriguez and her husband worked to renovate a home they bought on Torrence Avenue.

“My biggest concern was just her health,” she said. “I was on WebMD and every other website you can be on.”

Her home was granted an extension to fix the lead problems. She said fixing the problems has been expensive.

“It’s been well into the thousands for sure,” she said. “With my husband doing the work we have saved some money in labor, but materials alone it has been in the thousands.”

Joe Jackson was renovating his rental house on Bolander Avenue in hopes of getting tenants back into it when reporters arrived there last week. He said the last renters left because of lead. He said he was unaware the home was under a “Not to Occupy” order.

“The problem has to be resolved,” Jackson said. “I don’t want anybody to get hurt or affected by it.”

‘Frequent flyers’

County officials said they’ve never taken anyone to court to enforce a “Not to Occupy” order, though state law allows them to bring civil suits carrying thousands of dollars in fines and possible imprisonment.

The Dayton-Montgomery County health department placed one “Not to Occupy” order on a home in 2013, two in 2012 and six in 2011. All of those orders remain in effect.

All of those orders started with a child who was administered a blood test that found a lead level at/or above 10 micrograms per deciliter. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control lists 5 micrograms per deciliter as a high blood-lead level.

The findings of each blood test are referred to the Ohio Department of Health.

In some counties, ODH directly issues an order giving the property owner 90 days to fix the problem before taking further action. This includes Greene County, where two homes in Xenia are on the “Not to Occupy” list, and Warren County, where one home in Harveysburg is on the list. Other counties handle their own problem homes.

John Belt, who oversees the lead program for ODH, said this program is meant to address “frequent flyers.”

“There are addresses that have poisoned four, five, six or seven unique children over the last 20 years,” he said. “They would poison child after child after child.

“(Addressing those homes) has probably had one of the biggest impacts on the dramatic decrease in the number of children with lead poisoning in the state.”