Cuyahoga County Planning Commission Weblog

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development launched its Rental Assistance Demonstration, a "strategy to preserve tens of thousands of public and HUD-assisted housing units," by awarding grants to 68 public housing authorities. CMHA received three grants totaling $17 million for rebuilding and upgrading 383 units at its Cedar Extension, Bohn Tower, and Heritage View Homes housing projects.

Update: the Campus District Observer has more details.

On March 26, the board of the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority appointed Jeffery K. Patterson as its new CEO (PDF). Former agency head George Phillips-Olivier was recently sentenced to 10 months in prison for lying to the FBI. A Plain Dealer editorial said that the board has suffered from a "lack of oversight and accountability".

CMHA received a $300,000 federal planning grant to develop a plan for revitalizing the Cedar Extension public housing development in Cleveland's Central neighborhood. It was one of 13 Choice Neighborhoods Planning Grants awarded by HUD across the United States. Choice Neighborhoods is a signature program of the White House Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative.

The Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority broke ground for a senior housing development at Lee Road and Miles Avenue in Cleveland. The three-story Lee Road Senior Building will provide 40 units for seniors (PDF) who want remain in their current neighborhood.

Local officials celebrated the groundbreaking for the Euclid Belmore Building on Euclid Avenue in East Cleveland. The Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority (PDF) hopes to open the 39-unit senior housing complex in July.

Update: the Land Bank posted video of the event.

The Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority dedicated (PDF) its new headquarters and the second phase of its Heritage View Homes in Kinsman. The new construction adds 40 apartment units and 17 single-family houses to the 81 townhouse units opened last year.

CMHA recently celebrated the grand opening of its Heritage View Homes, the redevelopment of the Garden Valley Estates in Cleveland. The first phase of the development along Kinsman Road includes 81 units of public housing (PDF) in 20 townhouse buildings.

The Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority's new headquarters building is under construction at East 80th Street and Kinsman Avenue in Cleveland's Forgotten Triangle. The offices are scheduled to open in summer 2011.

The Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority is using the $69 million it received in federal stimulus grants to improve conditions at its Garden Valley Estates, Woodhill Homes, and other public housing estates.

The Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority was one of 36 public housing authorities (DOC) awarded federal stimulus grants. CMHA will receive $17.7 million for the redevelopment of its Garden Valley Estates in Kinsman.

Chris Warren, Cleveland's Chief of Regional Development, responded to Tom Bier's op-ed from a week earlier. Warren said that "the city of Cleveland has not walked away from its long-standing efforts to promote economic development in Cleveland's Midtown neighborhood."

The Ohio Department of Mental Health selected a site along Euclid Avenue between East 55th and East 63rd streets for the new $84 million regional psychiatric hospital. It will replace aging facilities at the MetroHealth campus on Cleveland's west side and in Sagamore Hills Township. The 14-acre site was previously targeted for redevelopment as the Midtown Technology Center. Meanwhile, the Ohio Housing Finance Agency awarded affordable housing tax credits to six projects in Cuyahoga County, including two controversial planned developments in Midtown. Emerald Alliance V, a permanent supportive housing development, received $1 million. A neighboring planned senior housing development received $915,122.

Local stakeholders differ in their visions for the future of the Euclid Avenue corridor in Cleveland's Midtown neighborhood. MidTown Cleveland Inc.'s master plan calls for redeveloping the area as a technology and health district, yet current development proposals are more heavily institutional and residential. The City of Cleveland is promoting the proposed Midtown Technology Center site as a location for a new state psychiatric hospital. MidTown Cleveland is not opposing the hospital concept, but objects to the Cleveland Housing Networks plans to build permanent supportive housing and Pirhl's proposed senior housing project. Carole Cohen considers the flexibility of master plans.

An article in the March/April issue of the Journal of Housing & Community Development highlighted the Tremont Pointe development in Cleveland.

The Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority will receive $35 million in federal stimulus funds, and eight other Northeast Ohio public housing agencies will receive an additional $18 million. Fifteen area cities and counties will also receive a total of $12.5 million in Community Development Block Grants. Nationwide, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has allocated $10.1 billion.

The Hope VI redevelopment of CMHA's Garden Valley Estates in Kinsman is underway, and so far, 19 of the 23 buildings have been demolished. Burten, Bell, Carr has photographs of the progress.

On Friday, the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority pledged make at least 482 of its housing units fully accessible to disabled residents within seven years.

Phase II construction of Tremont Pointe could begin as early as next month. The first phase included 102 units of market rate and subsidized housing, and the second phase will add 78 more units.

Cleveland State University and the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority will share the costs of restoring three WPA murals that were salvaged from the former Valleyview Homes in Tremont. Two of the murals will be installed in the University's new student center once it is built. Another piece of art from the complex will be installed in a community center at Tremont Pointe.

CMHA is planning a five-year, $100 million reconstruction of the 30 acre Garden Valley Family Estates in Kinsman. The plans call for demolishing and replacing the townhomes, and adding a new elementary school and a YMCA branch.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the HOPE VI Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2007 last month, but President Bush's proposed budget again includes no funding for the public housing program. ULI's John McIlwain says that the program needs to be continued.

The proposed budget also includes a 15.9% reduction in funding for Great Lakes programs. Update: the Blade has more information about the proposed cuts in Great Lakes funding.

Last week, CMHA celebrated the opening of 28 subsidized senior housing units at Riverside Park Estates in Bellaire-Puritas.

The grand opening of the Tremont Pointe (PDF) mixed-income community was recently celebrated. The first phase of the Cleveland development includes 102 units. Additional phases at the former Valleyview Homes site will add another 218 units.

Plain Dealer columnist Joe Frolik wrote about the mixed-income redevelopment of CMHA's Valleyview Homes in Tremont, and called it "a pioneering effort to bring 'green' construction principles to affordable housing". The first tenants will begin moving in next month.

The Plain Dealer explored the introduction of supportive housing programs in Cleveland. Emerald Commons, the City's first supportive housing development, opened in December and will be dedicated on Thursday. A complex in Glenville is scheduled to open this winter, and construction of one near MetroHealth Medical Center should begin this summer.

(Update: Tuesday's Sound of Ideas show on WCPN discussed the topic in more detail.)

Proposed funding reductions for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development would result in major budget cuts for Ohio public housing agencies. The Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority is projecting budget cuts of $3.8 million to $6.8 million, and the Akron Metropolitan Housing Authority would have to cut $4.5 million. Mayor Plusquellic of Akron is in Washington to lobby on behalf of cities against the cuts.

The Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati awarded $1.2 million in grants to Emerald Development and Economic Network for affordable housing projects. $1 million will go towards the construction of South Point Commons, an $11.3 million supportive housing project planned for West 25th Street near MetroHealth Medical Center.