CINCINNATI — A mother is suing one of Cincinnati’s largest low-income housing providers, blaming the deaths of her two infant children on exposure to toxic mold.
De’Nashia Shepard and two other tenants filed a lawsuit against Preservation of Affordable Housing, or POAH, in Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas on Sept. 22, alleging negligence, nuisance and reckless conduct.
"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.
“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 the lawsuit, which is seeking at least $25,000 per plaintiff.
Our I-Team first reported on POAH problem properties in July. City officials have since ramped up their enforcement of code violations and plan to inspect all POAHs near 1,000 units this fall.
WATCH: Shepard tells us more about POAH's reaction to what happened to her children
“The case against POAH is honestly very simple. They failed to keep De’Nashia and her family safe,” said Dublin, Ohio, attorney Jedidiah Bressman, who specializes in toxic exposure cases.
Sevara Davis, senior vice president and chief operating officer of POAH Communities, declined to comment on the lawsuit. In a statement, she said POAH Communities takes this matter very seriously.
“POAH is taking a comprehensive approach to serving our residents through upgraded housing and support services, including our highly successful Family Self-Sufficiency Program that helps our residents increase their incomes and build assets," Davis said in the statement. "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."
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.
Shepard spent three years living in a multi-unit apartment building at Back Street and Hamer Street near Grant Park, but moved to a different POAH building in Over-the-Rhine a few blocks away in July.
“When you have a building like POAH’s that’s from the 1880s, that likely has poor ventilation, that likely has increased mold … once it gets through the ventilation system, it can theoretically infect the entire building,” Bressman said.
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.
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 a nearby unit, as well as a high level of Stachybotrys, commonly referred to as black mold.
Reynolds and another tenant, Nicole Humphrey, are plaintiffs in the lawsuit against POAH along with Shepard.
“When I first moved in, my mom smelled the mold; she was telling me it smelled like mold,” Shepard, who moved into the building in 2022, said. “My daughter … she always had a runny nose, was always sick. I was always sick too, sore throat and all that.”
Both of Shepard’s infants died in their sleep, and in both cases, the Hamilton County Coroner’s office listed the cause as sudden infant death but noted that bedsharing could be a factor.
“They had blood … coming out of their mouths, both of my kids,” Shepard said.
After Shepard’s son, Da’Hovah Chosen Bishop, died on May 1, a member of Hamilton County Public Health’s Fetal & Infant Mortality Review visited her for an interview about what happened.
The investigator began telling Shepard what happened in Cleveland in the 1990s, after doctors documented a cluster of infant deaths that had unexplained lung bleeding. Investigators discovered that the infants lived in the same area of the city in homes with water damage and mold growth.
After a two-year study, the Centers for Disease Control named black mold that grows in water-damaged homes as its prime suspect.
Bressman said the 1990s Cleveland study definitively proved that mold could cause infant death.
The National Institute of Health said mold exposure may cause asthma, congestion, chronic cough, headache, skin rash or more serious reactions such as cancer, cognitive issues and immune system changes.
“If you smell a musty smell or see visible mold, take a picture of it, send it to your landlord, and ask them to fix the issue,” Bressman said. “If they say no and you are feeling health effects ... go talk to your doctor.”
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 the new inspections and expect it could take three months to evaluate all 148 buildings that contain 969 apartments. That was POAH’s local portfolio as of July.
The city’s residential rental inspectors found violations at Burnet Place, which consists of six buildings with 66 units in Walnut Hills, Mt. Auburn, and Evanston. POAH hired a general contractor to fix the violations, and officials plan to reinspect the properties in the next two weeks, a city spokesperson said.
At North Rhine Heights in Over-the-Rhine, inspectors found violations at 19 units spread across 8 of the 13 total buildings. Violations involved smoke detectors, paint, windows, sinks, bathroom ventilation and necessary insect and rodent control.
The city has scheduled inspections of other POAH properties for the first two weeks of November.
Despite POAH's history of violations and tenant complains, the city awarded POAH $1 million last month to help restore 81 units at Terri Manor in Lower Price Hill, which hasn't had a major renovation in 25 years.
