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The Tuscarawas County Health Department will stop checking living conditions

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The Tuscarawas County Health Department will stop checking living conditions

The Ministry of Health fears that the rejection of housing properties could increase homelessness

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  • The Tuscarawas County Health Department has decided to suspend investigations into complaints about poor living conditions at homes.
  • Health Commissioner Katie Seward says forcing people from their homes often results in them becoming homeless.
  • The mayors of Seward and the region will meet on October 17 to discuss the situation.

DOVER – Several area mayors have expressed concern over the Tuscarawas County Health Department’s recent decision to suspend investigations into complaints about living conditions in homes and apartments.

Health Commissioner Katie Seward informed mayors and township managers of the decision via email on Sept. 12. However, the agency will continue to conduct outdoor inspections.

The decision has no impact on the city of New Philadelphia, which has its own health department.

“I fully recognize that these can be difficult situations for everyone involved, and I would support and welcome a conversation with other agencies about how the Board of Health can better assist with housing condemnations,” Dover Mayor Shane responded Gunnoe, in an email to Seward.

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“However, I do not believe that ignoring the problem will benefit the residents of our communities because it is difficult to properly deal with these situations.”

Drive people out of their homes

Seward said the decision to suspend inspections arose out of concern that people and animals could be forced from their homes because of the conditions in which they were living. Displacing them places a greater burden on organizations dealing with limited resources, such as local homeless shelters, the dog pound, the Humane Society and Job and Family Services.

“It was important for us to try to help these people,” Seward said. “Their displacement really became a problem that I personally felt made our vulnerable populations even more vulnerable. When someone is unwell, your number one goal is to get them to fix the problems so they can live in their home.” The renovation part is unfortunately expensive. We really don’t have any resources locally.

In many cases, if a renovation order were written, the person would have no opportunity to bring the home up to code and would be homeless indefinitely, she said. Often these people struggled with medical problems, mental health issues or a lack of income.

She added that leaving people in poor living conditions was better than the alternative.

“When we place families in a homeless shelter, when we take animals, which are sometimes the last thing they have left, and force them to abandon them to the humane society and separate them from the comfort they know, then we are “Absolutely.” This leaves people worse off,” she said.

In several cases locally, people were forced from their homes and ended up sleeping in their cars in the driveway. Then they will ask health department officials what to do next. “Hearing and seeing these individuals and not being able to give them a better answer than I know is just not what we want to do,” Seward said.

The agency began interior inspections in 2016 and conducted a large number of them in 2019. The program was suspended and then resumed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The health department conducted 11 inspections between January and August 2023 and 39 inspections between January and August this year. Of these 39 complaints, 16 were unfounded.

Seward said poor living conditions in Tuscarawas County are more common than many people think.

Not happy with the decision

Dennison Mayor Greg DiDonato has been a strong supporter of the inspections and frequently raised the issue at meetings of the Department of Health’s County Advisory Council, which is made up of mayors and township managers.

Like Gunnoe, he is not happy with the decision to suspend indoor inspections.

“We don’t have the authority to ever enter anyone’s home. There were people who lived on rent and they openly invited our construction worker. Legally, that’s possible because they rent it and invited him in,” he said. “What I told them was: I don’t need you to take action, but you need to give me the report or the documentation, the facts, to be able to act on it.”

DiDonato said he isn’t entirely convinced there isn’t available housing for people evicted under a condemnation order.

In many Dennison neighborhoods, lots are only 25 feet wide, so homes are close together. Poor living conditions in a house can have an impact on neighbors.

“My reaction is: How can you ignore the conditions they live in? “How can you ignore the environmental conditions of the people around you?” he asked.

Different ways to deal with the plague

Mineral City Mayor Laurie Green said she was not surprised by the health department’s decision.

“I think most of us have tightened up our zoning, passed some ordinances and used different methods to combat the blight. But here too the result is always the same. If someone lives in the house, they have nowhere to go. “That’s our biggest problem here too,” she said.

The village has its own zoning inspector, Sam Moore, who is also Mineral City’s fire chief and street supervisor, to enforce its ordinances. The village is trying to do what it can to improve the housing situation, but its resources are limited, the mayor said.

Mineral City will partner with the Tuscarawas County Trap, Neuter, Release (TNR) program to address the feral cat population in the community.

“We try to help the people in the village as much as possible. That is our biggest concern. We have had great success with this. When we send out letters about zoning violations, we also say how we can help, what we can do.” “Sometimes it’s about offering resources or getting a few volunteers from the neighborhood to help mow or weed or paint one Door help,” Green said.

Come together together

Gunnoe has scheduled a meeting between Seward and the area’s mayors and township managers on Oct. 17 in the Dover City Council chambers to discuss the situation.

“I am really looking forward to the meeting in October because I want to see who will join me in this endeavor. The best housing outcomes I can remember have always been multi-agency,” Seward said.

Tuscarawas County, like other areas, faces a variety of problems – an aging population, high costs of living, exploding animal populations and mental health issues.

“All of these things combined really messed us up,” she said. “We have to find a way out. The health agency is expected to lead this push. I’m not saying we don’t have a seat at the table, but I need ours.” The community must come together to address this issue. We can’t do it alone anymore.

Reach Jon at 330-364-8415 or [email protected].

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