Cleveland is spending cash on houses — but not the way that you think.
The city is targeting as much as $117 million from its $512 million American Rescue Plan Act windfall for home repairs, construction and other housing work. That’s roughly $1 out of every $4.50 that the city received from former President Joe Biden’s administration in coronavirus pandemic stimulus funds.
City Hall set an ambitious and expensive housing goal in 2021: building, renovating and preserving 100,000 units of housing by 2030. That will take more money than the city has, and helps to explain why housing is prominent in Cleveland’s ARPA spending.
As of Dec. 31, 2024, Mayor Justin Bibb’s administration had spent about $29.4 million of its ARPA housing money, according to a Signal Cleveland analysis of financial data provided by City Hall. Just because City Hall hasn’t spent the ARPA funds on a project doesn’t necessarily mean the work isn’t underway. Cleveland often pays for work on a project after it is completed.
The $117 million figure is a Signal Cleveland estimate drawn from legislative and spending records. It could change as the city moves unspent ARPA money around.
There’s money for affordable housing and market-rate projects. There’s money intended for developers who need extra help to make a project a reality. What follows is a closer look at the housing projects and programs receiving Cleveland’s stimulus dollars.
$100 million housing trust fund
Estimated units: 2,500 to 3,000
Year: City money approved by council in September 2024
Cleveland City Hall wants to raise $100 million to build new apartments and houses, and it is using an infusion of ARPA dollars to get things started. The city’s goal is to create 2,500 to 3,000 units of housing, including 100 for-sale homes.
So far, the Cleveland Housing Investment Fund has collected $38 million — $18 million from the city and $20 million from Key Bank. Of the city’s contribution, $13 million came from ARPA money.
The city has enlisted the national community development nonprofit Local Initiatives Support Corp. (LISC) to fundraise and manage the money. The fund will give out loans of around $1 million to $5 million to help developers build and preserve housing, city officials told City Council last year.
At least 80% of the money must go toward “middle market and opportunity neighborhoods,” according to a presentation shared with council. The city uses those terms to refer to most parts of Cleveland, with the exception of such “market-rate” areas as University Circle, the northern West Side and a few other places. See a map of the city’s market-rate areas here.
Just more than half of the fund — or 51% — must finance developments that are affordable for tenants and homebuyers making $54,450 a year or less, according to the presentation.
A seven-member committee will review and approve grants from the fund. Five of the seven members will have voting powers. The five members who have been appointed so far are:
- Ward 14 Council Member Jasmin Santana
- Ward 10 Council Member Anthony Hairston
- Anthony Scott, assistant director for Cleveland’s Community Development Department
- Anthony Bango, housing bureau chief for Community Development
- Cecelia Rodriguez
City officials hope to begin closing deals to fund projects by the end of the year — or, “more realistically,” next year, Community Development Director Alyssa Hernandez told Signal Cleveland recently.
“We’re not waiting until we get to $100 million,” she said.
$30 million to fill financing gaps for developments
Estimated units: 900 affordable, 1,500 market rate
Year: Money approved in October 2022, developer list last updated July 2024
In October 2022, Cleveland set aside $30 million in ARPA dollars to help finance new housing construction. The city has labeled the money as “gap financing,” meaning it is intended for developers who have already cobbled dollars together from other sources.
It’s one of the city’s larger ARPA projects, and much of it remained unspent by the end of last year. As of Dec. 31, 2024, the city had spent about $6.9 million, according to Signal Cleveland’s ARPA tracker.
The city spent that money on several projects. One is the redevelopment of Nathaniel Hawthorne Elementary School on West 130th Street into 37 market-rate apartments. Another is the 49-unit Garret Square apartment building for seniors on Superior Avenue.
Cleveland is also spending ARPA dollars on six new multifamily apartment buildings on East 89th Street in the Fairfax neighborhood, within view of the cranes constructing the Cleveland Clinic’s Neurological Institute.
Known as the 89th Rising Housing Development, each building will house 24 market-rate apartments. The company undertaking the work, We Rise Development, was founded by Tim Tramble, a Fairfax resident and the president of the Saint Luke’s Foundation.
The $30 million fund is part of a broader, nearly $50 million package for housing developments. Read the latest list of projects approved by the Bibb administration and City Council here. The projects at the top of the list for funding are highlighted in green.
The Finch Group broke ground last summer on the ARPA-funded expansion of the Hitchcock Center for Women, an addiction recovery center in the Glenville neighborhood. The center will host 42 residential treatment beds and 53 units of housing. The city dedicated $1.5 million from the housing gap fund and $2 million in other ARPA dollars for the project.
$5 million for Woodhill Homes
Year: Passed September 2022
In 2022, City Council approved a $4.9 million loan to help finance the redevelopment of Woodhill Homes, a Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority estate in the Buckeye-Woodhill neighborhood. As of the end of 2024, all but $1 million of that money had been spent.
That’s not the only ARPA money going to Woodhill. The city dedicated another $5 million for a subsequent phase of the project out of its $30 million in gap financing for developers.
$5 million for Habitat for Humanity
Estimated units: 50
Year: Passed June 2023
The city approved $4.5 million for Habitat for Humanity in 2023 to help finance the nonprofit’s plans to build 50 new homes in the city. Cleveland had spent $1.7 million by the end of last year. Another $500,000 grant in city ARPA dollars helped Habitat buy a building on the West Side that it uses as a home repair store.
$9.9 million for the Cuyahoga Land Bank
Estimated units: 24 new houses, 30 renovations
Year: Passed March 2024
Last year, Cleveland City Council awarded $9.9 million to the Cuyahoga Land Bank to build and renovate homes in Wards 5, 10 and 14. Those wards cover the neighborhoods including Central, Glenville, South Collinwood and Clark-Fulton.
That money would finance the construction of 24 new homes, the renovation of 30 homes and the acquisition of property needed for the projects, according to a land bank news release. By the end of last year, the city had spent half of the money.
$1.8 million for veteran and senior housing
Estimated units: 62
Year: Union-Miles funding passed July 2023; Northwest Neighborhoods passed October 2023
City Council slated $1.8 million in 2023 for two different ARPA-funded housing developments branded under council’s “Transformational Neighborhood Project” initiative.
Council approved $1 million for Northwest Neighborhoods community development corporation’s planned 51-apartment Karam Senior Living building. The project is also in line to receive ARPA dollars through the $30 million gap financing program.
Council also set aside $750,000 for Union Miles Development Corp. to build 11 units of housing for veterans at risk of homelessness.
$10 million for home repairs
Estimated units: 440
Year: Money approved November 2022, awarded to nonprofits August 2023
The city slated $10 million in 2023 for four nonprofits that offer money for home repairs and other assistance: CHN Housing Partners, Cleveland Restoration Society, LISC and Habitat for Humanity.
The nonprofits are adding funds of their own with the goal of fixing up 440 homes by 2026 at a cost of more than $23 million, according to a presentation given to City Council. As of Dec. 31, the city had spent about $1 million out of the $10 million it set aside.
Key Bank added its own $2.5 million to Cleveland’s home repair efforts in 2023.
$5 million for smaller developers
Year: Money approved November 2022, awarded to partners August 2023
Another $5 million in ARPA home repair dollars is being split between Cleveland Development Advisors and Village Capital Corp., an arm of Cleveland Neighborhood Progress. The money goes toward loans and other assistance for smaller and minority-owned developers that rehabilitate homes.
$5 million for Southeast Side home repairs
Estimated units: 212-265
Year: Passed May 2023, updated December 2023
The city devoted a separate $5 million to create a loan fund for home repairs in the Southeast Side neighborhoods of Union-Miles, Mount Pleasant and Lee-Harvard. At the time the money was approved in 2023, Cleveland aimed to repair 200 to 250 houses and to perform 12 to 15 larger-scale rehabilitations.
$4 million for Cleveland Neighborhood Progress
Estimated units: 60 renovations and rehabilitations
Year: Passed August 2023
Cleveland Neighborhood Progress is using $4 million in ARPA funds to renovate and rehabilitate homes. With additional money from the state, the nonprofit told City Council it aimed to fix up around 60 houses.
$1.3 million for age-friendly home repairs
City Council has also set aside nearly $1.3 million to refurbish homes so that they’re more hospitable for aging homeowners. The money will be divided evenly among Cleveland’s 17 wards, leaving each council member with $75,000 to allocate.
$500,000 for 3D printed homes
Units: 2
Year: Passed May 2024
City Council last year signed off on a $500,000 ARPA grant to Lutheran Metropolitan Ministries for the costs of a pilot program to build two 3D-printed houses.
$13.9 million to combat lead paint
Year: Passed May 2022, last updated December 2023
Cleveland has gradually been spending down $13.9 million in ARPA funds to protect residents from old lead paint hazards in their homes.
Most of that money, or $13 million, went to the Mt. Sinai Foundation for use by the Lead Safe Cleveland Coalition to help to cover the costs of keeping chipped and peeling lead paint at bay. So far, the city has spent about half of that money.
Another $900,000 has been slated for lead programs within the city’s Department of Community Development. As of the end of the year, the city has spent almost $200,000 of that money.
$1 million for Legal Aid
Year: Passed September 2022
In 2022, the city approved $1 million to continue its support for the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland’s work representing tenants facing eviction.
$1 million for tenant assistance
Year: Passed January 2025
City Council approved $1 million to the United Way of Greater Cleveland at the start of this year to coordinate work helping tenants. Read more about that effort here.
$11 million for Hough housing projects
Year: Passed December 2021
In 2021, Cleveland City Council approved two loans for housing developments in the Hough neighborhood: $8 million to renovate a dilapidated apartment tower and $3 million for the Allen Estates project near League Park.
None of the money had been spent as of the end of 2024, but that doesn’t mean the projects aren’t moving. News 5 reported last year that the developer renovating the apartment building had lined up financing for the $47 million project.
