Cuyahoga County’s Board of Health is opening a new grant program to fix up homes with dangerous lead paint in the walls and windows.
The $7.1 million grant can be used to remove lead paint from up to 295 homes in inner- and outer-ring suburbs in Cuyahoga County. The county received the money from the federal government this spring.
The repairs are meant to make homes lead-safe by removing doors, windows and porches covered in lead paint, which young children often ingest. Lead can poison kids, damaging their nervous system and brains and leading to long-term learning and behavioral problems. Older homes are more likely to have lead paint, meaning Cuyahoga County’s aging housing stock puts kids at risk.
Cleveland residents face similar challenges but are not eligible for the county grant. Cuyahoga County’s Board of Health oversees every city within the county except for Cleveland, which has a separate public health department. The City of Cleveland runs its own grant program to do repairs on homes with lead in them.
But while Cleveland repeatedly struggles to spend money on lead-safe housing, the county has a better track record. In 2023, the state doled out COVID relief funds to both the city and the county for repairs to homes with lead paint in them. Cleveland had to return $3.3 million of the grant this February because it couldn’t spend the money. The county’s health department spent it all by April, wrote Stephanie McConoughey, the program manager of Environmental Public Health Services at the Cuyahoga County Board of Health, in an email to Signal Cleveland.
A similar story played out with federal funds. Both the county and the city received federal funding in 2019 to repair homes with lead in them. Cleveland asked to extend the grant a year and still only recorded spending about one-third of the funds by the end of it. (The city ramped up production in the last months of the grant and is now waiting to see how much of it they spent.) The county spent about 80% of its grant but had to return the rest when it ended, the first time the county had to return any federal lead grant funds since it started handing them out in the late 1990s, McConoughey said. The pandemic seriously slowed construction and supply chains in the most recent grant cycle, she added.
Now, the county has more money to spend. Here’s who’s eligible and how to access it.
Go deeper: Read our full coverage on Cleveland’s lead poisoning problem, including the history and why it matters today.
Who is eligible for lead safe home repairs?
Residents living in a home built before 1978 who have a child aged 5 or younger in the home. They also must meet the federal income requirements, which are 80% of the area median income (about $84,000 a year for a family of four). Tenants, landlords and homeowners can apply.
The county focuses its efforts on inner-ring suburbs that surround Cleveland. These cities represent some of the county’s lowest-income families and have some of the oldest housing stock, leading to the highest rates of lead-poisoned children, McConoughey wrote in an email.
Homes in the following cities are eligible to participate:
- Bratenhal
- Brooklyn
- Brooklyn Heights
- Brook Park
- Cleveland Heights
- Cuyahoga Heights
- East Cleveland
- Euclid
- Fairview Park
- Garfield Heights
- Lakewood
- Linndale
- Maple Heights
- Newburgh Heights
- Parma
- Rocky River
- Shaker Heights
- South Euclid
- Warrensville Heights
What can be fixed with the grant?
Windows, doors, porches and exterior areas of a home may be remediated or replaced, depending on their condition and the budget. Up to $10,000 per home is available. Landlords must pay a minimum of $500 to participate.
Is there a deadline to apply?
The grant will run through March 2030. But the process is first-come, first-served.
How do I apply?
The board begins the process by speaking with interested applicants, so they understand the requirements of participating, McConoughey wrote. If the applicant meets the basic requirements, then the county provides an application.
To speak with the board of health about the process, call 216-201-2000 or fill out this form https://ccbh.net/lead-safe-cuyahoga-free-home-repairs/.
