Meeting the moment on the housing crisis

Cleveland’s population is finally growing again. That’s fantastic news. But if we don’t act decisively, that growth will come with skyrocketing rents and massive displacement.

We’re already seeing it. In 2024, Cleveland had the steepest rent increase of any metro area in the country—while building the fifth-fewest new homes. That is a recipe for unaffordability and gentrification, not shared prosperity.

We need an all hands on deck housing agenda to meet this moment. Here’s what I would fight for as your city council member:

First, we should supercharge the affordable housing conversation by putting to a public vote an affordable housing bond. Cities across the country—progressive stalwarts like Portland and San Francisco, more conservative towns like Dallas and Charlotte, and near-peer cities like Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Columbus, Detroit, Philadelphia, and Chicago—have all created large-scale affordable housing bond programs. But Cleveland hasn’t.

These programs use low-interest public loans to get access to millions of dollars for building and preserving tens of thousands of affordable units–and they structure the financing to get the loans paid back without draining city finances. We can do the same here. A $50 million bond, paid back over time with properly structured financing, could unlock thousands of real projects and real homes.

And we must protect our long-time residents. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, about 27,500 Cleveland homeowners have lived in their homes for ten years or more. Yet as home values spike, their property taxes have skyrocketed—even though they haven’t realized any of the benefits. I propose a simple solution: the City should refund its 17.6% share of property taxes on the first $150,000 of value for these long-time owner-occupants. It’s a targeted, progressive way to reduce displacement. If you’ve committed to Cleveland, Cleveland should commit to you.

Renters deserve better, too. We should fully fund the city-backed Right to Counsel for eviction cases, expand it, and normalize tenant organizing. We should also implement a Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA) to give tenants the first chance to buy their buildings individually or as co-ops when they’re up for sale—and we should expand it to a community opportunity to purchase for qualified land trusts, public housing authorities, or other social housing partners.

In the meantime, the city controls a number of important tools to facilitate increased and equitable housing production:

  • Zoning: We should legalize not just duplexes but triplexes, quadplexes, ADUs, and in-law suites citywide. Especially on the Near West Side, we can embrace infill development that reflects what already works in our neighborhoods. Cleveland was once a leader in beautiful, family-friendly multi-unit housing. It can be again. 

  • Permitting: So long as proposed new housing fits community-agreed plans, we should dramatically speed up permitting. This should be all the more true for “priority development”: deeply affordable, workforce, accessible, age-friendly, and/or transit-oriented housing. If it’s a good idea, let’s just get it done. 

  • Financing: It’s time to rethink tax policy. It’s time to end public subsidies for luxury, single-family homes and redirect that effort toward priority developments–new housing that serves the common good. Let’s prioritize people, not profit margins.

  • Land: Cleveland owns more than 18,000 parcels of land—underused, poorly maintained. We should build housing on public land while keeping it in public hands through a social housing model. The land remains publicly owned, and the housing on top is leased for decades. That way, the public stays in control and can fight back against exploitative rent practices, while still providing the essential housing our city needs.