The City of Euclid is Serious about Maintaining Properties

The Building and Housing Department is responsible for the residential and commercial structures in the City of Euclid.  We have a staff of four clerks, 3 primary residential housing inspectors, one multi-unit or apartment complex inspector, two commercial building inspectors and one housing manager.

One of the first initiatives Mayor Gail addressed in her administration was to assign a review of the Building and Housing Department with a goal of determining processes and procedures that needed tightening up.

One such process was in the area of non-compliance. Many residents shared concern about how we hold home owners accountable for the maintenance of their homes.  Priority areas included non-compliance with acquiring rental licenses for single family homes and non-compliance regarding addressing violations found during inspections for both point-of-sales and rentals.

For too many years, initial inspections were completed when someone bought a home for example, but follow up appointments to make sure all violations were fixed were not consistently done.  This practice carried over into the rental homes as well.

A housing team was put together of representatives from the law department, finance department, IT, planning and development and housing.  We worked together to establish a housing operational plan that outlined all of the pieces that needed to be addressed.

Major steps included but was not limited to:

  •  Editing every housing application and accompanying letter for each product to clearly outline the statutory requirements by home owner

  • Creating a process to inform home owners that were found to have either transferred a property illegally or were found to have started renting a property illegally

  • Establish the prosecution process with the law department for notification of non-compliance and if needed eventual criminal process

  • Establish a new expectation with the clerks regarding legal notice to home owners and timely response for non-compliant owners

  • Establish a new expectation with inspectors regarding interpreting Property Maintenance Codes that address both interior and exterior of residential structures and create a partnership with zoning and engineering regarding those property violations

  • Establish a new scheduling process that maximizes inspector time out in the field and  minimizes follow up phone calls for appointments

I’m happy to report after six months now of implementation, we’ve improved from a 1 ½ yearlag on inspections to the current state of two weeks.   

We are committed to this plan because it will be reputation-changing.  The talk around town and around the county will be that Euclid is serious about how we maintain our properties.

I’m proud of the progress we’ve made so far in these areas and will be happy to continue to share progress of the Building and Housing department.  All staff in this department share Mayor Gail’s goal which is for residents to be proud of the housing conditions in their neighborhoods.

Kristal Grida

Assistant to the Mayor over Neighborhood Engagement, Special Projects, Building and Housing Department

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Volume 8, Issue 1, Posted 12:20 PM, 01.13.2017