Greater Cleveland Habitat for Humanity is building hope with its 400 Home Strategic Initiative
by Kevin Chill Heard, The Land
In August, Greater Cleveland Habitat for Humanity (GCHH) held a groundbreaking ceremony for its “400 Home Strategic Initiative” at 10707 Crestwood Ave. in the city’s Buckeye neighborhood. The goal of the initiative is to help families build wealth from home ownership, especially those who have traditionally lacked access, including people of color. On dozens of vacant lots throughout Cleveland, GCHH will soon build affordable homes for low-income residents, allowing people who might otherwise be shut out of the process to fulfill their dreams.
Over the next three years, the $33 million initiative will create 100 new homes, 50 rehabbed homes, 100 homes that are upgraded with repairs, and 150 homes benefitting from being spruced up. During the “spruce up” process, volunteers help homeowners with exterior home repairs, landscaping, and beautification, focusing on entire neighborhood blocks.
The homes will be located in the Mount Pleasant, Buckeye-Woodhill, Collinwood, West Boulevard and Detroit-Shoreway neighborhoods.
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Since its inception, the nonprofit has helped over 300 families in Northeast Ohio become homeowners. On average, it expects to build between 18 and 21 houses a year. In 2021, it had a record breaking year, completing 26 homes and moving nine homeowners into their new residences in a single month. The organization says that the 400 Home Initiative will be the single largest homebuilding effort in its history, and will target historically marginalized or underserved neighborhoods.
Outside the GCHH building on Cleveland’s west side (Photo by Kevin Chill Heard)
The group’s new and rehabbed homes are sold at no profit with zero percent interest mortgages and minimal down payments and closing costs, keeping the prices affordable. Homeowners must also work service hours on their home or in another volunteer activity that benefits GCHH. Approved homeowners must qualify for a monthly housing payment that is no more than 30% of their monthly income.
“Cleveland is so dictated by where you’re born from a ZIP code perspective,” said John Litten, president and CEO of GCHH. “In some of the neighborhoods we’re working in, your life expectancy is determined by the ZIP code that you are born in.”
“I feel like we are building generational wealth for people in the face of this generational poverty, especially in the neighborhoods we work in, and I love that we’re able to do it,” he added.
Greater Cleveland Habitat for Humanity CEO John Litten on the GCHH work floor. (Photo by Kevin Chill Heard)
How Cleveland wards were selected to be part of the 400 Home Initiative
Greater Cleveland Habitat for Humanity was founded in 1987 by volunteers aiming to revitalize Cuyahoga County neighborhoods. In 2022, it expanded to include Lorain County. Its mission is to bring people together to build homes, communities and hope.
According to Litten, some of the wards (such as Buckeye in Ward 6) have been focus areas for years as city council saw the need for housing redevelopment there going back to former Mayor Frank Jackson’s administration. Wards 2 and 4 are an extension of that as they are adjacent to Ward 6. Litten said he sees these three wards as in the same general vicinity, and a part of Cleveland’s southeast side, which Mayor Justin Bibb campaigned to help redevelop. Wards 11 and 15 were chosen for the initiative after discussions with City Council members about American Rescue Plan and Recovery Act (ARPA) funding.
In 2021, Cleveland received the eighth largest allocation of ARPA funds among U.S. cities, totaling $512 million over two years. The city received half of these dollars in fall 2021 and the remainder in summer 2022. In a press release from the City of Cleveland, City Council President Blaine Griffin said, “Cleveland City Council members are closest to their communities, and have identified affordable, infill homeownership as a top priority for Cleveland neighborhoods and residents. We are thrilled that this $5 million investment of ARPA funds will benefit 50 new homeowners and up to 400 total Cleveland families.”
Ward 4 Councilwoman Deborah Gray with a handout from a recent meeting with GCHH. (Photo by Kevin Chill Heard)
Ward 4 council member Deborah Gray, who has experienced firsthand the benefits of GCHH as a Buckeye-Shaker resident, said of the 400 Home Initiative, “With new homes being built for local residents as first-time homeowners, these residents have a chance to bring youthful wealth and long-term stability to our neighborhoods in Ward 4.”
The initiative will use green building standards that encompass lot design and development, resource efficiency, water efficiency, energy efficiency, indoor environmental quality, and building operation and maintenance. This standard not only makes the homes efficient for the new homeowner, but also makes them eligible to receive 100% property tax abatement on all improvements for 15 years.
To be selected as a Habitat for Humanity homeowner, families, couples or individuals need to apply to GCHH’s Homeownership Program. The Homeowner Selection Committee assesses each applicant’s level of need, willingness to become partners in the program, and ability to repay a zero-interest mortgage loan at the purchase mortgage amount. Applicants must be residents of Cuyahoga County for at least one year. From start to finish, the program can take between 12 and 18 months.
A house plan shown on a work board inside the GCHH office. (Photo by Kevin Chill Heard)
Disparities in homeownership by race
Litten passionately shared his views about economic disparities, which he says are holding back Clevelanders, especially Black Clevelanders, and which homeownership can help alleviate. “The neighborhoods we work in are filled with generational poverty,” he said. “Someone who is poor, their parents are poor, their grandparents were poor and a lot of that ties back to racism and our historic redlining that occurred in a lot of these neighborhoods that really stifle people’s ability to own a home.”
A report on trends in homeownership by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) found that there were about 9.2 million more homeowners in 2021 than a decade prior, but homeownership rates varied significantly by race. In Cleveland, the homeownership rate is only about 40%, far less than the national average of 65%.
The NAR report states that the Black American homeownership rate of 44% increased less than half of 1 percentage point (43.6% in 2011) and continues to lag well behind Hispanic Americans (50.6%), Asian Americans (62.8%) and white Americans (72.7%). The homeownership gap between Black Americans and any other racial group has grown, especially when compared to white households (29%), representing the largest homeownership gap in 10 years (26% in 2011).
According to The Fair Housing Center for Rights & Research, “Cuyahoga County has a long history of racial segregation, mortgage redlining of African American neighborhoods, and predatory lending based on race. Cuyahoga County remains part of one of the most racially segregated regions in the United States, and people in predominantly African-American neighborhoods often cannot get mortgages to buy houses in their neighborhoods.”
Community leaders and Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb take part in the ceremonial groundbreaking at 10707 Crestview Ave. (Photo courtesy of GCHH)
The vision of Habitat for Humanity is a world where everyone has a decent place to live. In Cleveland, more than 680 households earning 30–80% of the area median income have demonstrated a willingness to partner with the group by investing sweat equity into the construction or rehabilitation of homes, participating in required homeowner education classes, and signing a mortgage. More than 2,000 people have benefited from these partnerships since the group’s inception, including approximately 1,600 children.
Litten sees a direct connection between disparities in owning a home and generational poverty. “We’re trying to change that curve,” he said.
To find out about application for Cleveland Habitat for Humanity homeownership, call 216.429.1299 or go to: homeonership@clevelandhabitat.org