Summary
- Pam Schuellerman, executive director of Community Housing Solutions, talked about the repairs the agency does to help marginalized individuals remain in their homes. She said that (216) 651-0077 was the best number for people to contact the agency with housing issues.
- The Community Development & Housing Committee was informed that the project team behind the Warner & Swasey housing redevelopment in Midtown Cleveland is aiming to have funding secured by the end of the year. It currently faces a $2 million funding gap.
- The committee was informed by Sara Parks Jackson, director of Housing and Community Development for the county, that while there are no funding restrictions on this project because of DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) initiatives, that may change with future federal funding.
- Committee Vice Chair Pernel Jones Jr. and Committee Member Sunny Simon had an extended exchange over an ordinance that would prioritize cities and townships over other entities for Cuyahoga County Community Development Supplemental Grant (CDSG) funding. Simon said Jones is favoring communities in his district over other parts of the county. The committee voted 3-1 to send the ordinance to the full council, with Jones voting “no.”
Follow-Up Questions
- At several points during the exchange between Simon and Jones, Simon said that a “sorority” received CDSG funding over a city. What is she talking about? I did an admittedly cursory search on this but couldn’t find anything.
- When Jackson and the council are talking about potential DEI restrictions with federal funding in the future, what do they mean? Affirmative-action-type programs by race or ethnicity for inclusion in public housing? Something else? This was a little outside how I usually hear the term “DEI” applied, so I was curious.
- Council President Dale Miller was present at this meeting and made remarks at several points, even though he is not on the committee. Is this common practice? Do council presidents attend committee meetings where they aren’t members, or is this more a practice of Miller? Or was today’s meeting an exception?
Cuyahoga County Council Community Development and Housing Committee
The meeting agenda can be found here.
The meeting began a little late at 10:09 a.m.
Roll call: Vice Chair Pernel Jones Jr., Robert Schleper Jr. and Patrick Kelly were present at the beginning of the meeting. Council President Dale Miller was present even though he is not a committee member. Sunny Simon joined the meeting in progress, while Chair Michael Houser was absent.
The minutes from the June 2 meeting were approved unanimously.
Matters referred to committee
Cuyahoga County home repair by Community Housing Solutions
The committee considered a resolution (R2025-0232) awarding up to $25,000 of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to the Home Repair Program for Community Housing Solutions (CHS). Executive Director Pam Schuellerman and Home Repair Director Mike Grimes were present to talk about the program. Schuellerman talked about how the agency helps low-income, marginalized individuals obtain affordable housing in Cuyahoga County.
The Home Repair Program specifically worked on 519 houses involving 1,134 repairs last year (including 194 roofs). She said 86% of individuals in the program were over 60 years old, with an average income of about $19,000.
Schuellerman said that funding was the most important need of the program due to the unstable nature of receiving and requesting grants. Schuellerman emphasized the program was concerned with critical, meaningful repairs.
In response to a question from Jones, Schuellerman said the best contact number for the agency was (216) 651-0077. The committee voted unanimously to move the resolution to a second reading by full council at a future meeting.
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Warner & Swasey project
The committee considered a resolution (R2025-0251) that would make several amendments to a previous resolution that authorizes loans related to the Warner & Swasey project, a historic manufacturing building on 5701 Carnegie Ave. that is being repurposed into housing and ground-floor commercial space. Geoff Milz (the director of development, Ohio, for Pennrose, the project developer) and Ashley Shaw (executive director of MidTown Inc.) were present to address the committee.
Shaw referred to the project as the community development corporation’s “number one priority,” with a financial closing date expected by the end of the year. Council members talked about how the building was originally scheduled for complete demolition (Jones), and how the project is part of a continuing effort to connect downtown with University Circle (Schleper, who also mentioned the relocation of the Cleveland Foundation to Midtown). Milz informed the committee that there is currently a $7 million funding gap with the project, but when some expected funds are received, the gap will decrease to around $2 million. The amendments to the original resolution can be seen on the agenda. One lowers the maximum loan amount from $3.35 million to $2.9 million.
Simon brought up the topic of possible restrictions on federal funding because of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives with Sara Parks Jackson, the county’s director of Housing and Community Development. Jackson said “not yet” in regard to restrictions, but that “a lot of things are brewing” due to new initiatives from President Donald Trump’s administration to limit or eliminate DEI programs. Jackson pointed out that funds for this project had been approved previously (“old” money), but that once the agency received new contracts, she would know of any potential changes.
Jones spoke in support of DEI initiatives, saying that “[DEI] represents the actual normal conduction of business” and that “the federal government doesn’t have a right to do what they’re doing.” The committee unanimously approved moving the resolution to be considered for adoption by full council at a future meeting.
Cuyahoga County Community Development Supplemental Grant (“CDSG”)
The committee considered an ordinance (O2025-0001) that would direct the county, when evaluating CDSG grants, to prioritize applications received from cities and townships in Cuyahoga County over other entities—for example, nonprofits or community development corporations (CDCs)—in the event of a tie score. Jackson informed Jones that while this prioritization had been the practice until now, this ordinance would make it a requirement.
Later, the committee discussed the difference between a nonprofit and a community development corporation, with Michael King (special counsel to Cuyahoga County Council) saying that there was no “bright line” difference between the two, and that for the purpose of CDSG grant evaluation, the two were treated equally.
Simon and Jones held an extended conversation about this ordinance. Simon said that Jones seems “so desperate to want to protect” funds for part of his district at the expense of other parts of the county.
At one point, Simon named several cities in the county and said that each city “doesn’t matter to you because you don’t represent them”. At several points, Simon referred to an unnamed “sorority” that received CDSG funds instead of a city that also applied.
Jones expressed concern that under this ordinance, a CDC in his district would not be funded if a city applied for the CDSG funds and the two received the same score in the evaluation. King emphasized that in the “vast majority of cases” there would be no conflict, but in “edge cases” there is a hypothetical scenario where a city or township would be prioritized.
The committee voted 3-1 to move the ordinance to the full council consideration at a future meeting, with Jones the only “no” vote.
The meeting adjourned around 11:25 a.m.
These notes are by Documenter Tucker Handley.
If you believe anything in these notes is inaccurate, please email us at documenters@signalcleveland.org with “Correction Request” in the subject line.