Mayor Justin Bibb wants to use federal block grants to push Cleveland’s community development corporations (CDCs) toward more substantial home repair work, but several City Council members are calling for a complete overhaul of the funding system.
CLEVELAND, Ohio – Mayor Justin Bibb wants to use federal block grants to push Cleveland’s community development corporations toward more substantial home repair work, but several City Council members are calling for a complete overhaul of the CDC funding system that’s been in place for decades.
“For once and for all, we need to change this system,” McCormack said. “It’s not working for these local non-profits.”Housing and Urban Development’s various grants to the city of Cleveland are expected to amount to $34 million in 2023 and have long represented the vast majority of money spent by City Hall on community development.
Cleveland has failed to hit all those goals, and in recent years, HUD has been cracking down, said Community Development Director Alyssa Hernandez and Assistant Director Michiel Wackers. The city’s guidelines this year newly require CDCs to use at least half of their money for major home renovation, rehabilitation and maintenance projects. Economic development is another focus of this year’s policy change, which attempts to prioritize more assistance for small businesses, like help with expansions or relocations.
“The type of work we want to see is more substantial than a handrail. It looks like a handrail and a roof... I’d venture that if a senior in your neighborhood needs a handrail, they probably also need something else in their home,” Hernandez responded. “With the level of disrepair we have across our city, a threshold of $1,000 for a repair is not unreasonable.
On top of that, the director said the city often notifies CDCs of the changing restrictions too late. The added restrictions “make it more burdensome, accelerate the change too fast, and still barely pay for the capital to do the work, which has to be raised in advance. And then you’ve got to make payroll. And then you have to wait on reimbursement, sometimes which comes months late,” Stockhausen said.Harsh, along with McCormack and several other council members, are calling for a re-thinking of the funding structure altogether.
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