The program, led by Mayor Justin Bibb’s administration, aimed to fix homes quickly. Winners of the lottery to fund home repairs have been waiting on their winnings for years.
In 2024, the City of Cleveland, under Mayor Justin Bibb, announced a lottery for a home repair program. Officials had slated $10 million from the federal American Rescue Plan Act to put towards the ongoing problem of aging homes falling into disrepair.
The “ARPA in Action” effort began with applicants receiving letters saying they would be moving forward in the process. Those applicants have now been waiting two years for an update.
“I realize that they could come out and say, ‘No, you know what? You don’t qualify for this.’ And that’s fine. But the fact that no one is doing anything, that’s what bugs me,” said Angelo Merendino in a recent interview. He entered the lottery to repair his driveway, garage, and the siding of his home.
CHN Housing Partners, another of the city’s nonprofit vendors, is using a different list of homes than the one with the lottery winners.
“Mr. Merendino’s name was forwarded to CHN after the city conducted a lottery intake. CHN already had a list from various community development groups… and most likely enough names to use up the dollars available,” said CHN Chief Strategy Officer Laura Boustani in a recent statement.
The lottery list included 153 people, but only 149 of them were sent to CHN. Boustani said that up to 20 people have had their homes repaired through other programs, but many are still waiting.
Since Cleveland City Council awarded the $10 million to four nonprofits to carry out the much needed repairs, the program has spent at least $2.3 million. That money was awarded in 2023. The four nonprofits are CHN Housing Services, Cleveland Restoration Society, Greater Cleveland Habitat for Humanity, and the Local Initiatives Support Corp.
According to data from CHN and Habitat for Humanity, the two nonprofits have repaired around 160 homes so far.
With the nonprofits being awarded the funds in 2023 and the city’s program not being announced until 2024, people were already in the queue for repairs. The 153 lottery winners were added to the back of that long line.
According to Boustani, CHN was surprised when the list of lottery winners came through. The nonprofit said it would first serve residents on its initial repair list.
Merendino escalated his own case with the city, exchanging emails with a community development staffer. He also spoke directly with CHN.
Arin Miller-Tait, Cleveland’s community development director, said that Merendino should have received earlier communication from the city. She said that it was unsurprising how long he has been waiting due to CHN’s caseload.
“There is a need to reevaluate the city’s approach to home repair, broadly speaking, and that is a priority for my department. But at the same time, we know, again, it’s about needs and resources. And we know that there are not enough resources to meet the needs,” she said.
The two-year wait is reflective of an ongoing problem in Cleveland. With more and more homes falling into disrepair, the wait to receive help from the city is growing even longer.
