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LakewoodAlive Housing Program

If you need help with maintaining your home or are aware of a someone who could benefit from learning more about what assistance may be available, please contact Hilary at 216-521-1554. Our services are free and available to any resident of Lakewood.

In July of 2009, with CDBG funding, LakewoodAlive officially launched its housing outreach effort to support low and moderate income residents with maintaining the exterior of their homes. This initiative is a result of a careful and deliberate examination of Lakewood’s housing stock as it relates to the city’s economic well being. Lakewood’s housing stock is its economic lynchpin as outlined in the “Grow Lakewood” report.

LakewoodAlive’s housing outreach program is city-wide. The goal is to prevent property owners from being cited for violations by working with them to identify maintenance issues and matching them with available resources. The result is fewer cases in housing court and an overall improved condition of Lakewood’s housing stock. Ultimately the effort will protect and preserve a property owner’s investment and a huge part of our city’s economy.

Sarah Dixon, a Cleveland State Law student intern, conducted a survey that included all homes in low to moderate income census tracts throughout Lakewood to identify properties with maintenance issues. Since then over 600 property owners have been contacted about maintenance issues. In addition to the properties identified by that survey, a number of properties have been brought to our attention through block club efforts, the building department, housing court, council people and other agencies. Those property owners with maintenance issues have been invited to learn about the resources available to them to address these issues. Through meeting with property owners, it is clear that many are facing a variety of issues beyond property maintenance, most of which relate to our current economic climate.

Relationships play a large part in the success of this initiative. Block club captains are vital in identifying individuals who could benefit from our service. This is true not only for identifying property owners that can benefit from learning about resources that may be available to them but also in identifying owners that require some pressure to make necessary repairs. Mike Tuttle is block club liaison for the city and is the point person on getting information to block club leaders. In some instances, like on Olivewood, the block club was instrumental in helping a resident to complete repairs that he could not have done otherwise. This model of neighbors helping neighbors needs to be encouraged more extensively through the block clubs.

Identifying the financial resources to complete repairs can also be a challenge. While there are programs that address housing issues, many homeowners cannot or will not take advantage of them for a variety of reasons. For example, the diligent homeowner with limited financial means may have used all their resources to improve their house while neglecting the garage. Unfortunately, Federal funds cannot be used exclusively to repair or build out-structures. HUD requires the majority of work be done on the main structure. So, if the homeowner would like to take advantage of a low interest loan through the city to make repairs, 51% of job would need to be done on the house itself, the balance could be used for the garage. There are also health and safety requirements that must be addressed when using certain funds, so a front porch repair may result in unanticipated required work to mechanical systems. And while any home repair should be done in a safe manner, taking advantage of certain programs may result in much more work than anticipated like lead clearance testing for lead paint hazards.

Much of LakewoodAlive’s housing outreach involves working with the various departments at the city, notably the Housing and Building Department, Department of Community Development and housing court. These relationships are critical to the success of our program. We have worked with the housing department to ensure our informational brochure is mailed out with every violation notice. With cooperation of the Department of Community Development we are working to create a contractor reference resource. We created an evaluation form and are asking homeowners that have had work done on their property to help others by providing feedback on the work. Through the court, we are actively involved with court watch. Court watch allows us to provide information to the judge that he may not be aware of concerning particular cases but more importantly we are available to assist any defendant in court on building code related issues.

Activities Group News: Community Engagement | Housing | Downtown Lakewood | Security