Greater Cleveland Habitat for Humanity looks to build, rehab homes in Lorain

LORAIN — Another nonprofit hopes to help spur revitalization efforts in South Lorain with the building of two homes this year. Greater Cleveland Habitat for Humanity, which serves Lorain County, will build modular homes on vacant parcels on East 29th and East 34th streets, with plans to continue construction projects in the future. The lots, 1732 E. 29th St. and 1819 E. 34th St., are owned by the Lorain County Landbank. The homes on both lots were torn down in 2016. Often newly constructed Habitat for Humanity homes bring to mind largely volunteer-built properties like those former President Jimmy Carter was known for, said Greater Cleveland Habitat for Humanity President/CEO John Litten. The modular homes, which have large portions built offsite and then assembled on the foundation, are faster to build and impact the surrounding residents less than traditional stick-built homes. He said the garage for the homes are built in a traditional way on-site, opening up volunteer opportunities for faith-based or corporate groups. His organization has reportedly tripled the number of modular homes in Cleveland in the past eight months. The homes will be sold by Habitat at their appraised value for a zero-percent interest mortgage to income-qualifying buyers, he said. The project is more "affordable financing," than affordable housing, he said. Mortgages will be available to residents making between 30 percent and 80 percent of area median income — or about $29,000 to $77,000 for a family of four. Mortgages will be structured for up to 30 years, though some may be as short as 15 years depending on the borrower's income, Litten said. Habitat tries to have a homeowner's mortgage be under 30 percent of their monthly income. Alongside the two new homes, Habitat pledged $600,000 to a critical home repair program in Lorain, funding up to about $25,000 in repairs for owner-occupied properties. That includes foundation work, Litten said, with at least 10 homes in Lorain having foundations repaired through the program. It hopes to complete work on at least 30 homes this year. Lorain Building, Housing and Planning Director Matt Kusznir said Habitat's program will help offset some of the home repair needs the city's repair funds cannot cover. Lorain operates two home repair programs, one using Community Development Block Grant funds and the other using HOME dollars. The one using CDBG funds covers up to $15,000 in repairs, while the HOME repair program covers up to $75,000 in repairs — but projects like foundations can quickly eat through both those program allocations, he said. Freeing up the city's home repair dollars have helped cover homeowners' costs for furnaces, tanks heaters or electrical work, Kusznir said. "It's been a great collaboration," Kusznir said. 'They've invested so much money into the critical home repair program, we've been able to help a lot more people than we ever could have without them." The city of Lorain has been qualifying residents for the critical home repair program, which is income based. Kusznir said Habitat hopes to build another five in-fill homes on city-owned lots in the future. Habitat's critical home repair program and its plans to build modular homes on the south side are funded through a $25 million state American Rescue Plan Act allocation Habitat for Humanity received for projects throughout Ohio, Litten said. His organization is also working with the city of Lorain, and local foundations, for other funding options for the new home builds. Litten compared the agency's investment in South Lorain to its work with Cleveland Metropolitan Housing Authority and other partners in Cleveland's Buckeye-Woodhill neighborhood where it took a village of investors, from the Western Reserve Land Conservancy, to the city, Habitat, CHN Housing Partners, CMHA and others to help spur investment in the area. The east side neighborhood is not often thought of as one of the hot, trendy real estate areas in Cleveland, but over the past five years Habitat has built 40 homes, rehabbed another 20 and completed critical home repairs on more than 20 others — and seen home values on those homes, and others in the area, grow from $130,000 to about $160,000. "When we all work together that way, we find that home values increase faster than they would have and crime rates go down in neighborhoods … we're like the first step in the comeback of a neighborhood if we do this right," Litten said. Last year Huntington Bank opened a branch in Buckeye, he said. "The economics have to change for them to want to open up there," he said. Lorain's south side is already the focus of the Southside Gateway project, a partnership between Lorain Metropolitan Housing Authority and the city to reinvest in a swath of the southside from East 28th to East 36th streets between Broadway and Grove Avenue. At the project's heart is Southside Gardens, an aging, LMHA-owned housing project at East 30th Street and Vine Avenue. That 111-unit low-income housing complex will be transformed, with all of its units replaced one-for-one, with another 315 units of mixed-income housing scattered throughout the program area. The city and housing authority received a $500,000 choice neighborhood planning grant in late 2022 to fund its plan for the south side; they await a chance to apply for up to $50 million in federal implementation dollars from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Habitat's move to invest in Lorain fits in with the Southside Gateway project, coinciding with the housing authority's plans for a new housing development on the old Whittier Middle School Property and other new developments slated in the plan. The Greater Cleveland Habitat for Humanity absorbed Lorain County into its coverage area in 2022. Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.