A lack of affordable housing, aging and dilapidated housing stock and racial disparities in home ownership are among the top concerns listed in a new report on housing in Cuyahoga County released Friday. The county also announced a set of new initiatives which could help address the challenges.
The report, authored by the Levin College of Public Affairs and Education at Cleveland State University, listed several realities facing residents in the county:
- While many surveyed cited home ownership as a goal, Cuyahoga County's home ownership rate is below the state average, 58.4% compared to 66.8%. And there's a major disparity between Black and white home ownership, with 37.2% of Black residents owning a home versus 70.6% home ownership among white residents.
- The county has many programs meant to help specific groups like veterans, the homeless and the formerly incarcerated with jobs, food and housing vouchers. But service providers reported challenges finding affordable housing for those individuals to actually move into.
- There's a significant amount of old and dilapidated properties in the county, with the median age of homes being 1956, compared to 1970 in Ohio more broadly. While the county land bank and other initiatives have focused on demolishing dilapidated property, the city of Cleveland and other stakeholders involved in those efforts told the study authors that more funding is needed to fund redevelopment. Residents also told the study authors that the cost of repairing houses is beyond their means.
- The county has 58,081 housing units subsidized by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, with almost two-thirds being in the city of Cleveland, composing about 20% of its housing stock. Some suburbs like Orange have zero.
County Councilmember Michael Houser expressed concern in particular about the racial inequities during a press conference Friday.
"That disparity is more than just a number, it's a result of systematic inequalities and we have a moral obligation to close that gap," he said.
County officials proposed new programs in response to the report during the press conference, including a $1 million fund to provide low-interest construction loans for affordable single-family homes in the inner-ring suburbs. A portion of sale on the homes would be used to assist with down payments for some homebuyers.
Other solutions proposed included a $500,000 home-repair program for rental properties; $50,000 to track data and monitor housing conditions; and an initiative to identify residential parcels in suburban neighborhoods and "support communities in developing a comprehensive housing plan tailored to their specific needs."
Cuyahoga County Council will need to approve funding for the programs.
Outside of the these actions, the report also recommended the county provide a budget to the county's new Department of Housing.
"Centralized efforts in housing will be the most effective in improving the housing issues in the County, and funding is necessary," the report reads. "The (Housing) department's efforts may fall short because its resources are severely limited. Absent direct funding to support the department, stakeholders indicated that its creation remains symbolic."
The report also recommended the county create a county-wide rental registry to track "quality rental units and hold property owners liable for unhealthy units."
