Expansion urged for program that helps elderly, disabled Cleveland homeowners make repairs

Expansion urged for program that helps elderly, disabled Cleveland homeowners make repairs

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Some members of Cleveland City Council want to expand a popular program that helps elderly homeowners stay in their houses.

The first year of the Age Friendly Home Investment Program was 2019, when the City Council earmarked $75,000 for each of the 17 wards to help with home repairs.

The program was renewed for 2020, and Mayor Frank Jackson’s Aging Department has indicated it is ready to start moving on the 2021 program with the nonprofit Cleveland Housing Solutions.

Funding is expected to increase to $125,000 per ward next year, but members of the council want more. Councilman Mike Polensek, who represents Collinwood and part of Glenville, said the need is evident just from the number of rooftop tarps that can be seen.

“You realize this is not Florida,” Polensek said recently. “This is not New Orleans. We didn’t have a hurricane. … They’re trying to keep water from coming in.

“At the end of the day we’ve got to figure out how to assign additional money to this critical program,” Polensek said. “This is something that we all need to highlight as we go into the budget process.”

City Council will consider the mayor’s budget proposal in February.

The goal of the program is to provide older and disabled homeowners with money for home repairs.

Among the projects eligible for assistance:

• Roof and gutter repairs and replacement
• Exterior painting
• Porch repairs and replacement
• Installation of ramps or lifts
• Major electrical work
• Structural repairs to detached garages
• Major plumbing repairs
• Window repairs
• Furnace repair or replacement
• Driveway work.

The city seeks to cap projects at $10,000, said Director of Aging Mary McNamara.

Funding from the first year paid for 124 repair projects averaging just over $10,000 each. Another 96 were completed with this year’s funding, with 30 more still underway. The 2020 average also was slightly above $10,000.

Work continued through the year, despite the coronavirus pandemic. Most of the projects involve roof and porch repairs, McNamara said. The third largest group involved plumbing issues.

“Those three are the most common, [and they] really add to the strength and integrity of the house,” McNamara said.

Councilmen Blaine Griffin and Anthony Brancatelli each suggested Cleveland explore ways to use money in the program to leverage support from banks and other private institutions, as well as nonprofit organizations.

Griffin cited Jackson’s neighborhood transformation program as an example of where that strategy has had success.

Jackson unveiled the plan in 2017, with Cleveland committing $25 million toward luring investment in neighborhoods where private investment has lagged. Cleveland’s major banks pledged another $40 million to assist development.

That plan has sparked development along East 105th Street in Glenville, Buckeye Road near the East 93rd Street corridor and most recently in the Clark Fulton neighborhood on the West Side.

Published at Thu, 31 Dec 2020 15:00:00 +0000