Opportunity Housing Launched!
News From Neighborhood Progress
In the face of a transitioning economy, Cleveland’s neighborhoods compete for residents, business and investment. Neighborhood Progress Inc. (NPI), along with its community partners, is in the forefront of efforts to respond to this challenge.
NPI, founded in 1988 by the Mandel Foundation, The Cleveland Foundation, The George Gund Foundation, The Ford Foundation, and other local private, public and philanthropic interests, works with Cleveland’s Community Development Corporations (CDCs) to create holistic plans and implement innovative programs that strengthen and revitalize Cleveland’s neighborhoods.
Quality of life stolen by the sub-prime market
With the slogan, ‘Hope Starts Here’, Cleveland Mayor Frank G. Jackson was joined in Slavic Village recently by Ward 12 Councilman Tony Brancatelli and representatives from the Ohio Housing Finance Agency (OHFA), Neighborhood Progress Inc. (NPI), Cleveland Housing Network (CHN), KeyBank, Living Cities and Enterprise Community Partners and others to launch Opportunity Homes, a comprehensive one-of-a-kind market recovery strategy designed to counter the effects of foreclosure through home rehabs, demolition and foreclosure interventions in the following six Cleveland neighborhoods: Slavic Village, Buckeye/Shaker, Fairfax, Glenville, Tremont, and Detroit - Shoreway.
“This public-private partnership will work together to help restore the quality of life stolen by the sub-prime market,” said Mayor Jackson. “Opportunity Homes is an investment in the City of Cleveland's most important assets, our people and our neighborhoods.”
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Opportunity Homes is an entrepreneurial collaboration of strong, experienced partners which aims to restore market confidence, eliminate blight, preserve existing property values and enable homeowners who are currently faced with the loss of their homes to retain their property and re-establish their credit. This pilot initiative will act as a model that is replicable in other neighborhoods in the city and throughout Ohio. |
Opportunity Homes was launched in October 2008
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“We are thrilled to be part of this effort”, said Doug Garver, executive director of the OHFA. Opportunity Homes is spearheaded by organizations with experience and successful track records, and is a targeted, well thought out approach that effectively leverages public dollars to begin attacking the foreclosure crisis at its core.
This program was initiated by Neighborhood Progress, Inc. and builds upon a network of strong community development organizations; the 27-year track record of the CHN; the financial and development capacity of NPI; the expertise of Enterprise Community Partners and the commitment of the City of Cleveland and Ohio Housing Finance Agency.
Project funders include the following: City of Cleveland, Ohio Housing Finance Agency; Living Cities; NPI's Village Capital Corp.; Enterprise Community Partners; KeyBank; Ohio Community Development Finance Fund; Dollar Bank; FirstMerit Bank; Huntington Bank; Housing Partnership Network and Citi Foundation; and Fannie Mae.
Neighborhood partners include community development organizations in the six Cleveland neighborhoods comprising NPI's Strategic Investment Initiative. Those organizations are: Buckeye Area Development Corp., Detroit - Shoreway Community Development Org., Fairfax Renaissance Development Corp., Famicos Foundation, Shaker Square Area Development Corp., Slavic Village Development and Tremont West Development Corp.
Case Western Reserve University and Empowering & Strengthening Ohio's People (ESOP) are also providing support for Opportunity Homes.
Opportunity Homes Links:
WKYC
Plain Dealer
The Cleveland Housing Network (CHN)
Neighborhood Progress, Inc. (NPI)
