Politics & Government

City Council Approves Sale of Home Purchased and Renovated Through Federal Program

Cleveland Heights sells second property purchased with Neighborhood Stabilization Program dollars

Cleveland Heights City Council approved the sale of a home on Brunswick Road that was purchased and renovated using money from the federal government.

The city received $2 million through the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, which addresses the foreclosure crisis by granting money to local governments to buy abandoned, vacant and foreclosed homes, repair them and turn them around for sale. The dollars also can be used to demolish homes that can't be saved.

Cleveland Heights sold the three-bedroom, two-bathroom house for the asking price, which was $79,900, said Susanna Niermann O’Neil, director of community services. She was one of the people who worked on the project with Rick Wagner, manager of housing programs, among others. 

Find out what's happening in Cleveland Heightswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“I just want to highlight the excellent work that our staff has been doing on this. We've all been through this foreclosure crisis and we know about the vacant and foreclosed homes,” said council member Mark Tumeo. “We took money from the federal government, and we’re fixing homes and we’re putting people back in them — (there are) new families coming to Cleveland Heights.”

Mayor Ed Kelley also shared his support for the project. 

Find out what's happening in Cleveland Heightswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“As councilman Tumeo said, we’re doing it basically one house at a time, one street at a time, one neighborhood at a time, and we’ve had really good results,” Kelley said. “…We have a young couple with a young child moving in there, making their investment in Cleveland Heights, and we’re working with them.”

Council also approved awarding the buyer $5,000 of down payment assistance.

This is the second house sold through the program, said O’Neil, who added that the city only hires local real estate agents who know the neighborhoods well. The first property sold for $105,000 on Cleveland Heights Boulevard, she said.

Proceeds from the sales go back into the Neighborhood Stabilization Program funds to help continue to handle foreclosed, vacant and abandoned residential properties, said Councilman Dennis Wilcox.

The city has another house on the market now, and plans to put four more up soon, she said. All together, they plan to demolish 12 and renovate 12 with the original funds, O’Neil said.  

Also at the meeting Tuesday night, council member Bonita Caplan announced that the city’s recycling program brought in $12,000 from materials in January, and encouraged everyone to continue to participate.

"(There were) tons of materials that were not landfilled, so we’ve saved money in two different ways,” she said.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from Cleveland Heights