CINCINNATI — Another mother is suing one of Cincinnati’s largest low-income housing providers, blaming her 4-year-old son’s breathing problems on exposure to toxic mold.
Mariyah Varner is the fourth tenant to file a lawsuit against Preservation of Affordable Housing, or POAH, alleging that mold inside their apartments is causing health problems from severe headaches, bloody noses, skin rashes and asthma to the deaths of two infants.
“He’d be coughing so bad at night … and I take him to the hospital, and his oxygen was so low they said he could have died,” Varner said, describing her son’s 10-day stay at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center in August 2023.
WATCH: We spoke to Varner about her lawsuit and the other complaints about POAH properties
She said her son also tested positive for lead twice, most recently in May 2025, and is being bitten by bed bugs.
“They’re not paying attention to their residents at all,” said Varner, who filed her lawsuit in Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas on Dec. 9.
Our I-Team first reported on POAH problem properties in July. Cincinnati inspectors have since ramped up their enforcement of code violations and are in the process of inspecting all of POAH's nearly 1,000 units and are forcing repairs.
Varner’s case followed a lawsuit filed by three tenants in September, including De’Nashia Shepard, who blamed POAH for the sudden deaths of her two infants in two years. They are seeking damages and alleging nuisance, negligence and reckless conduct tied to mold exposure.
"I just want justice for my kids, that's all. I want answers," Shepard said. She lost a 1-month-old daughter in 2023 and a 2-month-old son last May. Both autopsy reports list the same cause of death: sudden unexplained infant death.
POAH Communities Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice President Sevara Davis declined to comment on the lawsuit or any specific allegation, but offered this statement:
“POAH is taking a comprehensive approach to serving our residents through upgraded housing and support services. Our team of 40 local professionals in Cincinnati will continue to work closely with our residents, local government, and our non-profit partners to improve the quality of life for all our residents.”
Dublin, Ohio attorney Jedidiah Bressman said POAH needs to do a better job taking care of its tenants.
“After De'Nashia’s story ran, I got a lot of calls from people living in POAH apartments who were dealing with mold in their own units and very similar complaints. Coughing, wheezing, asthma-related symptoms,” said Bressman, who specializes in toxic exposure cases and filed both lawsuits. “It’s almost the same exact stuff. ‘There’s mold in my unit. There’s water damage. POAH is not fixing it.’”
POAH is a national nonprofit based in Boston that operates in 13 states. It acquired many historic buildings from The Model Group in 2018 in Over-the-Rhine, Pendleton and the West End with help from the city and the Ohio Housing Finance Agency.
On Sept. 16, City Manager Sheryl Long announced a $1 million award to POAH to help restore a Lower Price Hill building, despite its history of violations and tenant complaints about rats, raw sewage, a lack of hot water and mold.
Varner moved into a POAH apartment at 1223 Republic Street in Over-the-Rhine with her son in February 2022.
The multi-unit brick building was built in 1883, according to the Hamilton County Auditor’s office.
“Shortly thereafter, (her son) experienced escalating and serious health problems: coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath, chest tightness, sore throat, runny nose, nasal congestion, skin rashes, skin irritation, itchy eyes, watery eyes, headaches, dizziness, muscle aches, and fever,” according to Varner’s lawsuit.
“In December 2024, Varner reported to POAH a strange odor in the air, and a noticeable substance on the walls and near or around the air vents in the residence after basement flooding … Mariyah Varner was told that mold was not present in the residence, but what she observed was from smoke,” according to the lawsuit.
‘Is the next step for them to go to a shelter?’
Low-income tenants who experience poor living conditions are often unable to move out because there are so few housing options, Bressman said.
“Is the next step for them to go to a shelter? Is it for them to be homeless? Would they rather be homeless than live in a unit that’s making them sick? That’s the choices that these low-income residents are having to choose between,” Bressman said. “Whether to have a roof over their head, even if it’s making them sick, or no roof at all.”
POAH agreed to increased oversight after meeting with city officials in July. The city’s Residential Rental Inspection program is now overseeing all POAH properties due to the outstanding building code violations, a city spokesperson said.
On Sept. 2, city officials began new inspections of all 148 buildings containing 969 apartments. That was POAH’s local portfolio as of July.
“The city of Cincinnati actually going out and doing these inspections is very important because it shows that they are taking it seriously enough that they are actually going to be issuing fines,” Bressman said. “It’s more likely that landlords are going to be taking it seriously when their bottom line is affected.”
A city spokesperson said inspections have been completed at seven POAH properties, totaling 65 buildings and 409 units, as of last week. Those inspected so far are Burnet Place, Fairview Estates, Magnolia Heights, Losantiville Buildings, Losantiville Apartments in Evanston, Navarre Garrone and North Rhine Heights.
A new round of inspections began on Dec. 10 in Over-the-Rhine for buildings at Abington Race and Pleasant Apartments, and Wesley Estates.
“There are currently 170 cases with active violations. The most common violation types are repair smoke detectors, repair floor coverings, insect/rodent control, replace HVAC filters and repair drywall,” according to spokesperson Ben Breuninger.
The city’s Department of Buildings and Inspections has completed 20 re-inspections, and in all 20 cases the contractor hired by POAH has corrected all violations, Breuninger said.
But Varner questioned whether the city is doing enough to help POAH’s residents.
“I’ve called the city multiple times,” Varner said. “But I feel like they aren’t paying attention to this building.”
After she complained, Varner said that POAH simply painted over the mold and repainted the peeling in the bathtub where her son takes his bath. She worried that the bathtub contained lead.
“My whole bathroom is chipping paint right now. When he gets in the tub, you see the paint floating,” Varner said. “My doctor told me they are literally supposed to … give you a whole brand-new tub. They just paint over it and the paint chips off the next day.”
‘Black mold is rampant’
Shepard, who blamed toxic mold for the deaths of her two infants, spent three years living in a multi-unit apartment building at Back Street and Hamer Street near Grant Park.
“When I first moved in, my mom smelled the mold; she was telling me it smelled like mold,” said Shepard, who moved into the building in 2022. “My daughter … she always had a runny nose, was always sick. I was always sick too, sore throat and all that.”
Many other tenants at that building said the mold made them very ill. They complained of severe headaches, hair loss, rashes, diarrhea, congestion and breathing problems. They believe the source is a basement just below Shepard’s former apartment.
“Black mold is rampant on the property owned and managed by POAH .... no parent should have to bury their child once, let alone twice,” according to Shepard’s lawsuit, which is seeking at least $25,000 per plaintiff.
Michelle Reynolds, who lives next door to Shepard’s old unit, hired professional mold testing with Action Mold Pros in Newport in July. The company noted an abnormal level of mold in her unit and the nearby unit where Nicole Humphrey lives, as well as a high level of Stachybotrys, commonly referred to as black mold.
Bressman and POAH’s attorney went to Shepard’s old unit on Back Street in late November to conduct mold testing.
“That unit was gross,” Bressman said. “We took off the return to look down there and the supply; it looked like it hadn’t been cleaned ever … and we found various types of mold that line up with what happened in that unit, people getting sick.”
Another tenant, Humphrey, is also a plaintiff in the same lawsuit as Shepard. Her unit is on the opposite side of the same property complex, at 1654 Hamer Street.
“When you’re in that unit, you can just feel the humidity,” Bressman said about Humprey’s unit. “In fact, I believe the day before we were out there testing, the city came out and issued a fine for mold. That’s how bad this particular unit is.”
A city health inspector found mold and water stains on Humphrey’s ceiling and water damage with signs of a water leak, and bubbling paint due to leaking HVAC system pipes. He issued violations on Sept. 5 for unclean and unsanitary conditions and ordered them repaired and remediated.
The inspector returned to Humphrey’s home on Nov. 20, saw the same violations, and issued a $300 citation to POAH.
“They plan to schedule another reinspection with the tenant in approximately one week. If the conditions are still not corrected at that time, a second citation for $750 will be issued,” said Breuniger, the city spokesperson, in a Dec. 11 email to WCPO.
Meanwhile, Humphrey and her family are still living in that unit despite the mold, Bressman said.
“We looked in the HVAC closet, which was locked, so POAH locks the HVAC units so their tenants can’t access it, and it was wet. The filter was wet, and we know that moisture causes mold,” Bressman said. “Based on the types of molds that have come back, it isn’t safe for people to live there.”
Meanwhile, Shepard moved out into a new POAH property in July with her now 4-year-old daughter. She now lives at 1223 Republic Street, in the same apartment building as Varner, who is her cousin.
Both Varner and Shepard had professional mold testing done at their Republic Street units on Sept. 3.
The airborne test results did not show elevated levels of mold in either unit. But results showed heavy fungal growth in a supply vent and high levels of Aspergillus/Penicillium mold in the building’s basement. Cincy Home Inspections and Sporecyte performed the testing.
Shepard and her cousin called the city for help.
City health inspector Damali Gaskin visited 1223 Republic on Sept. 8. She closed the complaint because she did not see wet floors in the basement or visible mold there or in the unit.
A tenant told Gaskin that she saw maintenance workers carrying up two big bags of water from the basement and leaving the door wide open to dry out.
But a POAH representative told the inspector, "There is no water and/or flood down there, and maint(enance) was not bringing up bags of water, so not sure where they are getting that information," according to Gaskin's report.
A POAH representative also said a tenant, "can be seen on camera with a news crew ... and wishes the tenant would stop stating the units have mold when in fact they do not," according to the inspector's report.
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