• Owners: Owner-occupied, rental property

• Applicants must prove ownership of one or more residential rental unit(s) or property(s) that are:
  • located within the City of Cleveland
  • built before 1978
• Applicants must be current on all property taxes or have an active payment plan in place

• Covering and/or repainting lead-based paint
• Covering lead-contaminated soil
• Surface treatments that minimize friction
• Lead cleaning and clearance
• Installation of new doors and/or windows

Lead poisoning can negatively impact a child’s quality of life. Even low levels of lead exposure can lower a child’s IQ, make it difficult to pay attention in school, delay growth, impair hearing, and more.

Lead poisoning is a public health crisis with a housing solution. If we proactively create lead safe homes, children won’t be exposed to lead-based paint hazards in the home. The City of Cleveland requires Lead Safe Certification for residential rental units built before 1978.

First, a home is considered Lead Safe when lead hazards have been controlled so that the concentration of lead dust remains below the threshold set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. This means a Lead Safe property is no longer hazardous but may still contain lead.

In 2019, in response to a housing stock suffering from years of disinvestment and neglect, the Cleveland City Council passed legislation requiring rental property owners to prove that their dwelling units are safe from lead hazards before they may be registered with the city’s Department of Building and Housing.

This legislation led to the creation of Cleveland’s Lead Safe Certification program, which ensures that all Cleveland rental properties built before 1978 are certified as Lead Safe before being occupied by a tenant.