CLEVELAND — City of Cleveland officials revealed findings from a 2023 Cleveland Property Inventory at City Hall Thursday morning. Surveyors assigned grades to each property and structure and collected data on their conditions, information officials say will help in creating a healthier community, and determining how to allocate ARPA funds.
According to Sally Martin O’Toole, Cleveland Director of Building and Housing, the survey started in late October, and surveyors worked through the winter surveying more than 167,000 land parcels in Cleveland.
Isaac Robb with the Western Reserve Land Conservancy said that distance was more than 1,400 miles walked, adding up to more than three million steps.
“This survey is so important because it truly allows the city to do a couple things,” said Mayor Justin Bibb. “Number one, be more aggressive on code enforcement, it’s going to give us more tools to crack down on predatory out of state land lords and investors, it also is going to beef up our ability to address the lead paint crisis that we see in our homes all across the city.”
Mayor Bibb said the data will ensure the city is executing investments in such a way that residents “feel and see the change when it comes to neighborhood stability.”
“This will allow us to be able to strategically direct resources all across our city, to support the areas one, that are [in] most need, and then work our way down,” said Ward 10 Councilman Anthony T. Hairston.
“We have set aside money for home repair, and as I said earlier, these results will help us know where to direct these dollars. We know who is in the most need of these repairs,” Hairston said.
According to city leaders and officials with the Western Reserve Land Conservancy, this information can be used to identify which vacant lots are prone to dumping, which structures near schools have lead paint, which properties can be identified for demolition, and compare conditions of homes owned locally to those owned by out of state land lords.
“We believe we will be able to pivot now to proactive code enforcement, and away from a reactive complaint based system by using this data, and we will utilize it to its fullest,” said Martin O’Toole.
Both occupied and vacant properties received a grade. According to the survey findings, 94% of occupied structures are in the A to C range, A being “excellent” and C being “fair.”
However, when looking at the conditions of vacant structures in the city, the report states that 52% of vacant structures received a D, or “deteriorated” grade, or F “hazardous” grade.
“When a healthy homes inspector has a conversation with a resident, when someone fixes their porch, a house is painted or a roof is repaired, we are demonstrating to our city and our collective civic leadership that we care about this place and so should you,” Robb said.
