CMHA making the most of area's largest stimulus award

CLEVELAND -- Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority is vowing to make good use of every dollar after receiving the area's largest awards in stimulus funds.

CMHA will receive $69 million to use for new and renovated housing to support more than 53,000 residents living in its 10,500 public housing units.

"Many of the projects that we are now breaking ground on and actually going forward with were just sitting on the drawing boards," said CMHA CEO George Phillips.

"Things that we wanted to do but didn't have the funding and could not do."

While the size of the award sounds massive, Phillips said only 10-15 percent of CMHA's housing units will actually be touched, either by being rebuilt or renovated.

There are plans to improve the remainder of the public housing units, but each project sits "on deck" awaiting funds.

"It's important to have good housing, whether it's public housing or any type of housing," Phillips said. "We like to say that we're building good, affordable housing that people actually want to live in and would be proud to have in their neighborhood."

Stimulus funds are already in the mix in the massive rebuilding of the Garden Valley Estates along Kinsman Avenue.

CMHA is tearing down 350 units and rebuilding the old brick apartments into newer, inviting townhomes. Construction crews have already begun clearing several acres along Kinsman for phase one of the project.

"It's going to help hopefully revitalize the community and have the community really be a part of what's going on and strengthen (the Garden Valley neighborhood)," said Jeff Patterson, CMHA's chief operating officer.

Visit CMHA's webpage for more information.