East Cleveland, Ohio was settled at the turn of the century when rapid industrial expansion forced the burgeoning population of neighboring Cleveland to seek housing beyond its eastern boundary. More than half a century later, in the wake of Cleveland's civil disorders of the 1960s, waves of real estate block busting transformed East Cleveland in a single decade from a predominantly white community to one with a minority population of 67 percent. The change, as is characteristic of such rapid turnover, brought with it a significant decline in property values and attendant problems.
In the 1990s, East Cleveland is a community in which most economic indicators and many social indicators point downward. To mention only one of these, in the last dozen years the city's poverty rate has risen faster than that of either Cuyahoga County or Ohio, increasing from nearly 30 percent in the 1980s to 45 percent in 1992.
As the primary tool for countering the negative forces many of its residents face, East Cleveland has chosen housing rehabilitation. To carry out its one-year action plan, the city expects to receive Federal funds totaling nearly $1.9 million -- nearly $1.4 million from a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and $500,000 through a Home Investment Partnership program (HOME). The preponderance (approximately $1 million) of these funds will be used for housing improvements. Less than half a million is projected for human services of various types; lesser sums are earmarked for public facilities, and facilities for youth, the elderly, and households in general. Nonhousing community development needs are listed that would cost more than half a billion dollars to fulfill. However housing rehabilitation for lower-income families, bolstered by an array of support services, is the keystone of the 5-year strategy.
City officials preparing the Consolidated Plan consulted with at least 20 local agencies and organizations that provide housing and services to lower-income and special-needs populations. A well-publicized public meeting on the plan was held at the annual Community Awareness Day celebration and picnic. Those attending were asked to express their views on a range of housing issues by completing a survey. The results of the survey were considered during development of the Consolidated Plan which was drafted in collaboration with the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission.
MAP 1 depicts points of interest in the jurisdiction.
East Cleveland, a compact city occupying about three square miles, is approximately seven miles from downtown Cleveland. It is bordered on the north and west by Cleveland and on the south and east by Cleveland Heights, another inner-ring suburb. The city is the product of enormous population growth experienced by Cleveland just before and after the turn of the century.
East Cleveland's charter, adopted in 1916, guaranteed women's suffrage in municipal elections 4 years before ratification of the 19th Amendment enfranchised women nationwide. By 1930, the population had grown to 40,000. During the 1960s the composition of East Cleveland's population changed rapidly. The city had a 2 percent nonwhite population in 1960, but a decade later the African-American population had increased to 67 percent, the apparent result of civil disturbances in two nearby Cleveland neighborhoods in 1966 and 1968, and the prevalence of real-estate blockbusting in the city's eastern suburbs.
In the 1980s the East Cleveland work force, in which generally lower-paying positions predominate, shrank faster and lost a greater percentage of higher-paying skilled jobs than Cuyahoga County as a whole. Unemployment rates in 1990 in 5 of 11 of East Cleveland's census tracts ranged from more than 18 percent to nearly 26 percent. Since 1988, when a state of fiscal emergency was declared, the city has been under financial supervision of a state-appointed commission charged with helping it establish budgetary controls. In 1991 East Cleveland had the second highest crime rate of any community in Cuyahoga County and a rate more than 70 percent above that of the Cleveland metropolitan area.
MAP 2 depicts points of interest and low-moderate income areas.
MAP 3 depicts points of interest, low-moderate income areas, and minority concentration levels.
MAP 4 depicts points of interest, low-moderate income areas, and unemployment levels.
In 1990, East Cleveland's population was 33,096, about 10 percent less than in 1980. Minority residents rose from 88 percent of the population in 1980 to 95 percent in 1990. The city contains 13,400 households. Since 1980 there was an 8 percent decline in the number of family households and an 11 percent decline in the number of nonfamily households. Female-headed households have increased so that they now make up 30 percent of East Cleveland households. Elderly households comprise 18 percent of all households.
Median family income (MFI) in East Cleveland was $20,068 in 1989, well below that for the Cleveland metropolitan area, which was $37,140. Within East Cleveland, extremely low- and very low-income households represented about 47 percent of all households. There were 4,031 extremely low-income households (income less than 30 percent of MFI) -- 86 percent renters and 14 percent owners. Of the 2,161 very low-income households (31 to 50 percent of median), 63 percent were renters and 27 percent owners. Elderly households made up almost 44 percent of the homeowners in these two income brackets.
There were 2,785 low-income households (51 to 80 Percent of MFI) -- 66 percent renters and 34 percent owners. Elderly households made up only 26 percent of the owners at this income level. Moderate-income households (51 to 80 percent of MFI) were a much smaller group, 1,003 of which 66 percent were renters. Elderly households made up only 18 percent of the homeowners in the moderate-income bracket.
Households in the two lower median family income levels experience serious housing problems. Among extremely low- and very low-income households, 83 percent of East Cleveland's renting households and 17 percent of its home-owning families reported a cost burden over 30 percent of household income. Of those with extremely low incomes, 2,600 households (87 percent of them renters) had housing costs of more than 50 percent of their income, a ratio that is believed to put them at risk of homelessness. There were also some 600 cost-burdened households with low-incomes and 100 cost-burdened households with moderate-incomes.
Seventy percent of the city's rental units rent at less than $400 a month and 82 percent of its single-family houses are valued at less than $60,000. The median sale price of a single- family home in East Cleveland rose to $45,900 in 1993, or 9.5 percent above the 1990-91 median price. This was only about half the county wide median price for suburban houses. Sales of foreclosed properties totaled almost 9 percent, compared with foreclosure sales of less than 1 percent for the rest of suburban Cuyahoga County.
Between 1980 and 1990, the city lost 700, or 4.5 percent, of its housing units. Of the 15,200 units remaining, 41 percent were built before 1939 and 87 percent were built before 1969. Twenty-eight percent of all units are owner-occupied and 60 percent are renter-occupied, the remainder are vacant. Although no data are available for East Cleveland, the rate of home ownership in younger age brackets (25-44) is declining in other suburbs adjacent to Cleveland.
Because of generally moderate prices of one- and two-family homes and relatively low interest rates, the Consolidated Plan concludes that many East Cleveland renter households could own a home for an equivalent monthly expenditure. Despite this apparent opportunity, many first-time home buyers are hampered in the purchase of property by lack of sufficient down payments and credit problems. The need for rehabilitation funds can be a serious barrier to first-time buyers in East Cleveland where more than half of the housing stock was built before 1949. Owners of rental units have problems maintaining and rehabilitating the city's typically older buildings.
Although no evidence of homelessness in East Cleveland was found by the U.S. Census or the city's own efforts, it is estimated that there are about 10,000 homeless persons in the county. The city of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County have jointly prepared a homeless plan that includes a continuum of care. The city of East Cleveland does not have shelters, transitional housing, or homeless services within its boundaries; the city currently refers homeless individuals or families to the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Office of Homeless Services.
Only one public housing facility of the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA) is located in East Cleveland. In 1993 CMHA estimated this 166-unit building for elderly persons needed a $4.5 million rehabilitation, including modifications to meet requirements of the Americans With Disabilities Act. More than 1,300 units of assisted housing, built or rehabilitated through various HUD programs, are located in nine projects. These units, 11 percent of the city's renter-occupied units are scattered throughout the city. In addition, CMHA oversees 972 tenant-based Section 8 leases in East Cleveland.
East Cleveland does not have local policy ordinances or policies that negatively impact the ability to develop, maintain, or improve affordable housing. Availability of low-cost rehabilitation loans helps lower the cost of repairs found necessary during building inspections.
Since East Cleveland has a 95 percent minority population, discussion of the geographic location and degree of racial concentrations is not applicable. Much of the blockbusting and steering by real estate agents that brought about the racial transition in the 1960s and early 1970s predated passage of the first Federal fair housing law in 1968. The city did not have any municipal regulations in effect at that time that might have helped curb such practices.
It is estimated that more about 9,000 East Cleveland low-income housing units could contain lead-based paint. From January 1993 through April 1994, the Cuyahoga County Board of Health screened 1,647 East Cleveland children under the age of seven. Nearly 30 percent of the children (491) were found to have elevated blood lead levels.
East Cleveland has inventoried needs in public facilities, infrastructure, public services, and economic development. The cost of these needs is estimated to total $594 million over 5 years. This amount does not measure the actual dollars that will be spent, but how much would be required to meet the needs. Some examples from this catalog of needs and estimated costs:
Expenditures for needed maintenance and improvement of public facilities would total nearly $9.5 million over the 5-year period. They would include work on a senior center, a youth center, facilities for parks and recreation, parking, and health facilities.
The estimated cost of needed infrastructure improvements totals nearly $100 million. This estimate would cover expenditures for solid waste disposal, flooddrainage, and water, street, sidewalk, sewer, street light, and traffic signal improvements.
More than $5 million is needed for public services, including senior, handicapped, and youth services, and substance-abuse programs. An estimated $6.5 million is needed for employment training. An estimated $55.8 million could be spent over the next five years for child care services for lower-income families. More than $1.3 million is needed for crime awareness, fair housing and tenant-landlord counseling, and health services.
Listed among economic development needs are commercial-industrial rehabilitation, micro- business development, technical assistance, and energy-efficiency improvements.
Because of the age of the housing stock, East Cleveland sees housing rehabilitation as the overriding need of families in all low- and moderate-income levels over the next 5 years. Many of the houses regarded as good prospects for renovation are vacant but often need repairs too extensive to be undertaken by individual owners. Rehabilitation, often combined with weatherization, is financed through below-market-rate loans.
The nonprofit Lutheran Housing Corporation, using city-allocated CDBG funds, acquires properties at affordable prices, usually from the inventory of foreclosed houses owned by HUD or the Veterans Administration. After renovation, the housing units can be sold to low- income buyers, often with bank financing facilitated by the city. The Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority is responsible for rental assistance programs. East Cleveland has reviewed the rental assistance issue and has determined that the city does not have the capacity to provide such a program at this time.
No 5-year milestones have been set for progress in alleviating the nonhousing needs described above. Tables list projects in 42 categories and give brief descriptions of each project.
East Cleveland concentrates on job training in its antipoverty strategy. The city government is allied with the State of Ohio and the East Cleveland School District in two job training programs for welfare recipients. One State- and city-funded program teaches welfare recipients skills in such trades as plumbing, carpentry, and masonry that can be applied to housing rehabilitation. Another group of welfare recipients is being trained as nurses' aides. In 1993, East Cleveland received a $2 million HUD special purpose grant that has been used to establish the SMART program (Single Mothers Adapt to Reality and Training). The program provides job training to single mothers receiving Aid to Families With Dependent Children. Child care and transportation are provided for program participants.
The East Cleveland Consolidated Plan lists 33 separate programs or channels through which Federal, State, and local resources can be applied to address housing and community development needs. Heading the list of Federal resources is the Community Development Block Grant. The city also expects to use Emergency Shelter Grants, HOME grants, and grants through the HOPE I, II, and III programs.
East Cleveland also expects to draw from such State resources as the Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing, which funds low-income, tax credit projects from equity investments made by corporations. The Ohio Housing Finance Agency provides assistance for a range of housing activities. Besides carrying out such core municipal activities as boarding up vacant properties and demolishing condemned ones, East Cleveland provides help with down payments and closing costs for eligible households and land-banks tax- delinquent and foreclosed properties.
East Cleveland's Department of Community Development administers the CDBG and HOME programs and monitors housing rehabilitation projects that use Federal funds. It subcontracts with Lutheran Housing Corporation, a nonprofit organization that carries out many housing programs. The city relies on the experience of this organization in making arrangements with financial institutions, which make loans at discounted rates to acquire and rehabilitate property for resale to first-time home buyers. Weatherization and homeless services are provided through Cuyahoga County agencies, and the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority administers conventional public housing units under the Section 8 rental program in the city. The Ohio Housing Finance Agency provides such initiatives as a mortgage revenue bond program and down payment assistance program, and administers federal low-income housing tax credits. East Cleveland will strengthen working relationships with a range of health, mental health, and service agencies, and private sector groups, foundations, developers, and contractors.
MAP 5 depicts points of interest, low-moderate income areas, unemployment levels, and proposed HUD funded projects.
MAP 6 is a map, sectioned by neighborhood, which depicts points of interest, low-moderate income areas, unemployment levels, and proposed HUD funded projects.
MAP 7 depicts points of interest, low-moderate income areas, unemployment levels, and proposed HUD funded projects within one of the four neighborhoods indicated in MAP 6.
MAP 8 depicts points of interest, low-moderate income areas, unemployment levels, and proposed HUD funded projects within another of the four neighborhoods indicated in MAP 6.
MAP 9 depicts points of interest, low-moderate income areas, unemployment levels, and proposed HUD funded project(s) from a street level vantage point; as well as, provides a table with information about the project(s).
Some 35 different projects have been identified for first-year action, using CDBG and HOME funds. Approximately $1 million is earmarked for housing improvements. Some examples of projects are:
