Oriana House, the Akron-based nonprofit that runs the Cuyahoga County Diversion Center, is facing 20 misdemeanor counts after city inspectors said they found mold throughout the East Side facility. The case, filed in Cleveland Housing Division, lands as nurses who worked inside say the building itself made them sick. The center remains open and is scheduled for arraignment on April 21, 2026.
City inspectors flagged mold, cleanup orders went nowhere
The Cleveland Department of Public Health documented visible mold during an August 2025 inspection and ordered Oriana House to clean it up within 10 days. The city later extended that deadline to December 2025, but a follow-up inspection reportedly still found mold in the building. That prompted the Housing Division to file criminal charges, according to Cleveland 19 News.
Nurses say the air made them dizzy and short of breath
Several nurses told 19 Investigates they developed dizziness, trouble breathing and skin reactions while on the job at the diversion center. They said they took their own cultures and photos to document mold and water damage inside the building.
“I started to get really, really lightheaded,” nurse Lydia Warner told the station. Oriana CEO James Lawrence emailed that the agency “will not communicate” with the outlet and disputed its reporting, per Cleveland 19 News.
Millions in public money, 50 beds and a big mission
The Diversion Center is a 50‑bed operation that opened May 3, 2021 and provides short-term inpatient care and stabilization services, according to the ADAMHS Board. It is meant to give people in crisis a treatment option instead of jail.
Local reporting has shown the center draws significant public funding. Signal Cleveland reported that Cuyahoga County budgeted nearly $32 million in opioid-settlement money to operate the diversion center through 2026 and that county contracts pay Oriana House to handle day-to-day services.
What the city can do next
Under Cleveland’s nuisance‑abatement code, the city’s public health commissioner can order a property owner to clean up and, if the owner does not comply, authorize the city to do the work and place the cost as a lien on the property. That authority is laid out in Section 203.03 of the city code, according to the Cleveland Code of Ordinances…