June 4 : Board of Commissioners, Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority
Covered by Documenters Alyssa Holzkloos (notes) and Antoinette Williams (notes)
Highlights from the CEO’s report
The Cleveland Metropolitan Housing Authority’s CEO, Jeffery Patterson, updated CMHA’s Board of Commissioners on many of the agency’s ongoing projects and initiatives at their June 4 meeting.
- Demolition at the Woodhill Homes project, a multi-site redevelopment in the Buckeye-Woodhill neighborhood, is expected to end and new roadways will be installed in July. Phase III of the project, at Buckeye Road and Woodhill Road across from the RTA station, is currently 35% complete, according to Patterson, and scheduled to open early next year. Work at the Woodhill Homes public housing project has been ongoing since 2022, with two of the three housing complexes, Woodhill Center East and Woodhill Station West, open and accepting residents.
- The 728-foot long mural that spans the perimeter of the RTA bus facility on Woodhill Road, created by Elevate the East initiative, has won the National Mural Awards’ Community Award. “Additional place-making projects, in partnership with LAND Studio and others, are in development and will be installed over the course of the next year,” said Patterson.
- “Good progress” has been made on improvements at Oakwood Villas and Gardens in Oakwood Village. Several families have been displaced by the work and are expected to be able to move back soon.
- CMHA officials attended the opening of the Lotus Apartments, a new affordable housing facility geared toward young adults experiencing homelessness. “We joined CHN Housing Partners and EDEN in making this vital development a reality for our community.”
- Karam Senior Living Apartments is scheduled to begin construction this summer in the upper floors of the Cleveland Public Library’s new Walz branch, which will be on West 80th Street and Detroit Avenue. The facility will house 51 units for residents age 55 and older with direct elevator access to the library downstairs.
- CMHA has completed a $5 million grant for lead remediation work at Cedar Estates. Renovations included “over 30 original 1930s staircases and buildings and updates to bathrooms and tub fixtures,” according to Patterson.
$21M approved for vacant unit turnaround services
The Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority has approved two contract renewals totaling $21 million to be distributed to more than 40 different contractors for cleaning and other services to prepare vacant CMHA units for move in.
Individual contractors prepared nearly 2,000 public housing units for occupancy in 2024. CMHA currently has 676 vacant units and averages 85 move outs per month.
Sharhonda Greer, CMHA’s chief of Housing Administration and Operations, said CMHA has seen improvements in both turnaround times and occupancy so far in 2025: “We have seen improvement in unit turnaround time, which is now 15 days less than last year, an increase in the number of units completed by the contractors per month, currently standing at 101 per month, versus 83 that were completed last year.”
CMHA writes off more than $400,000 in non-payment of rent
CMHA’s Board of Commissioners approved a resolution writing off $418,631 in balances owed by families who have left CMHA housing. After the balance is written off, it is sent to a third-party collection agency.
Jeffrey Wade, chief of staff and special counsel to the CEO, said writing off the balance is needed because “this is a key metric that appears on much of our monthly reporting … with respect to the balances that are owed to CMHA.”