On Easter Sunday, Briona Campbell jumped at the chance to move into a three-bedroom house on Milton Court Northwest in Canton.
"When I came here, I'm like, 'Oh my God, this is refreshing.' Something way bigger than what I'm used to and now my kids have their own room,'" Campbell said.
However, Campbell felt forced to move her daughter, U'naiya, 5, and her son, Draedon, 8, to their grandmother's house after a former tenant delivered a warning that stunned the single mother.
"She was like, 'You shouldn't move in there,'" Campbell recalled. "She was like, 'There's lead in that house. It should be vacant.'"
Campbell told newsnet5.com that the owner of the property never revealed any issues with lead-based paint, which can cause health problems especially for young children and pregnant women.
She called Canton's health department, and on April 6, received a visit from Rick Miller, a city inspector. He reposted a sign on the front door indicating the house "contains lead hazards and has been declared unsafe for human occupation."
"He told me I need to leave," Campbell said.
Campbell wanted out of the house too, but she can't afford to move without getting back $1,000 in deposit and rent.
"When I called the property manager, she told me no. There's no lead there, nothing at all. My boss took care of it."
The owner of the the house told newsnet5.com by phone that lead was removed from the property "months ago." He also said he planned to email a further statement.
Miller said it appeared some work had been done on the house, but he doesn't believe all of the lead was abated.
"I could see from the front porch, which is a common area, that the work on the front porch was not done at all," Miller said. "In my opinion, and based on what I saw, the lead hazards remain at this point."
According to Miller, he started investigating the house in 2014 after the Ohio Department of Health informed him that a 2-year-old child who had lived at the house had lead poisoning.
Miller did an inspection in January of 2015 and noted multiple lead-based hazards inside and outside of the home, including in the basement and on the front porch.
The inspector said the owner was ordered to have a licensed contractor abate the lead and provide documentation of the improvements.
"We never received any proper documentation to show that work had been done," Miller said.
In October of 2015, Miller posted his initial warnings on the doors of the property. However, Campbell said she wasn't aware of any risks because those signs were not up when she moved in five months later.
Miller said he's not sure who took down the warning signs.
"Now I have to keep my kids away from their home that they want to stay in," Campbell said. "I feel trapped."
Campbell has filed a Fair Housing complaint, which Canton officials confirmed is under investigation.
