2022 was a banner year for CHN Housing Partners. Despite the challenges the pandemic posed on our communities, CHN did not slow down. We partnered, we created, we innovated and we improved. With investments from our funders and partners, guidance from our board and the commitment of our staff, we accomplished a great deal. Our mission of leveraging the power of stable, affordable housing to change lives and improve communities remained front and center every day, guiding our team and our work.
This document is an overview of our work across our six service areas - real estate development and affordable housing, home lending, energy conservation and lead intervention, utility and emergency assistance, counseling and education and community building and engagement. Here are some highlights:
Continued to be extremely productive in developing affordable housing at home in northeast Ohio and across our markets
Expanded our focus on homeownership with CHN Housing Capital and our Homeownership Center because we believe homeownership should be within reach for everyone
Created a new single family preservation operation to address the aging housing stock and increase investment in neighborhood stability
Launched the Detroit Housing Network with the City of Detroit, Gilbert Family Foundation and neighborhoodbased nonprofits to make housing stability and homeownership services easier to access for Detroiters
Wrapped up one of the country’s highest performing pandemic emergency programs entrusted to us by Cuyahoga County and the City of Cleveland
Maintained our strong financial position and built our team which allowed us to expand our service areas and geographic focus
WITH GRATITUDE TO ALL
WHO SUPPORT OUR MISSION,
Kevin J. Nowak Chris Warren Kevin J. Nowak President and CEO Chris Warren Board ChairTogether, these developments address the shortage of quality affordable housing for two groups-- single parents who are students and youth transitioning out of foster care.
CHN is a leader in the affordable housing industry across populations and asset classes, and provides capacity in development, general contracting, construction, property and asset management, and tax credit consulting in Ohio, Michigan, New York and Pennsylvania.
Replicated across the country as a pathway to sustainable homeownership for low-income families, CHN’s Lease Purchase Program has helped over 1,600 individuals and families become successful homeowners. From single-family homes to multifamily affordable apartments, CHN's development portfolio has expanded significantly. We continue to broaden our reach into the multifamily market to address the shortage of quality affordable housing for low-income populations.
In Cleveland, CHN broke ground on the Louise C. Stokes Scholar House and Cuyahoga Transition Aged Youth (TAY).
CHN was also awarded Low Income Housing Tax Credits from the Ohio Housing Financing Agency (OHFA) and the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) for these developments:
Margaret Wagner Senior Apartments (Cleveland Heights, OH)
Sunrise Neighborhood Living (Lorain, Elyria and Carlisle Township, OH)
Broadway Commons (Lorain, OH)
Orchard Village (Detroit, MI)
Carriage Towne Place (Ovid, MI)
CHN closed on three projects in the Cleveland area and completed construction on four other projects across our markets. We also received Historic Tax Credits for the Arch at St. Michael’s school building in the Clark-Fulton neighborhood.
In 2016, CHN began a geographic expansion followin calls from mission-aligned non-profits and cities to help f gaps in local systems with our value-added skill set While the majority of our work remains in northeast Ohio CHN’s multistate footprint now includes southeaster Michigan, western Pennsylvania and western New York.
We are also currently expanding into Lorain County with number of developments.
CHN tailors its services to community needs in ou expanded footprint to grow the capacity for affordabl housing development and housing services in thos communities.
In 2022, CHN received its first Michigan-based LIHTC award through MSHDA for Orchard Village Apartments, a multi-unit development in Northwest Detroit’s Old Redford neighborhood. Co-developed with Detroit Blight Busters (DBB), the development will contain 48 two-bedroom units for families earning 30-60% of the Area Median Income. Led by Executive Director John George, DBB has intimate knowledge of the neighborhood and a 35-year track record of tearing down blighted homes in the area.
The tax credit award is expected to generate nearly $10.8 million of Orchard Village’s estimated $14.2 million development cost. As a part of the City of Detroit’s Grand River Northwest Neighborhood Framework Plan,
Orchard Village Apartments will bring more density and foot traffic to Old Redford while furthering the City’s plans to bring more affordable housing to Detroit’s neighborhoods.
In Pennsylvania, New Granada Apartments, located in Pittsburgh's Hill district, successfully leased all 40 units in December 2022. (See a photo of New Granada on page 4). The project was made possible through CHN’s partnership with Hill Community Development Corporation, an organization that has been promoting the revitalization of Pittsburgh’s Hill district for decades. Hill CDC served as the project sponsor, co-owner and co-developer.
The property consists of a five-story, 46,000 square foot mixed-use building, offering 40 affordable apartments and 5,500 square feet of commercial and retail space on the building’s first floor. The apartments are specifically designed to attract local artists, incorporating amenities and services to support the "creative class." The first-floor retail space aims to support small local businesses, leveraging its proximity to the neighboring New Granada Theater for potential opportunities.
Through decades-long partnerships with utility companies and public agencies, CHN provides nearly $18 million in energy-efficient products and services annually through a 22-county area. Our Energy Conservation and Weatherization programs have provided safer, healthier and more energy efficient homes for thousands of families across Ohio.
CHN is an implementing member of the Lead Safe Cleveland Coalition, a group of over 500 members committed to making Cleveland’s aging housing stock lead safe. CHN administers the Lead Safe Home Fund, a first of its kind fund that provides grants and loans to help landlords to make their units lead safe and prevent lead poisoning in children.
6,616 Energy efficiency, conservation and Lead Safe jobs completed in 2022.
Investing in weatherization and energy conservation programs has a three-fold positive effect of:
Reducing the energy expense of a household, making families more housing stable and less dependent on government subsidy for energy payments Increasing the value of the home because of the capital improvements
Reducing the overall utilization of energy and decreases environmental impact
The burden of utility costs can be overwhelming for many families. Through our utility assistance programs, we provide financial support and resources to help individuals and families maintain access to essential services. Each year, CHN helps tens of thousands of clients pay their utility bills.
39,883 Utility Assistance applications processed in 2022.
We partner with local nonprofits, including MetroHealth, Cleveland Clinic-Langston Hughes, Greater Cleveland Food Bank, Moore Counseling and Mediation Services, Maple Heights Senior Center and Cuyahoga County Public Library’s South Euclid and Garfield Heights branches to bring services directly to neighborhoods with high demand. Thank you to the State of Ohio, the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District and the City of Cleveland for making funding for these programs possible.
In the Spring of 2020, CHN came together with the City of Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, suburban communities and other partners to quickly design and launch a pandemic emergency rental assistance program to help keep residents safely in their homes. This became one of the best performing emergency assistance programs in the country. Clients working with CHN reported a loss of income averaging $21,000 during the pandemic, illustrating how critical this emergency resource was for keeping families housing stable.
$99,716,778.67
Distributed to 29,629 families
Sources: County, City, Step Forward and other municipalities, including Cleveland Heights, East Cleveland, Euclid and Lakewood.
Annually, CHN serves more than 4,000 low- to-moderate-income families through personal finance management, homebuyer readiness, foreclosure and eviction prevention and free income tax preparation. With a focus on financial stability and economic self-sufficiency, CHN’s skilled team of HUD-certified housing counselors and certified personal finance educators bring together a wide range of programming to empower low-income individuals to achieve financial security.
In 2022, our Financial Mobility team worked to expand CHN's counseling and education services, including working with CHN Housing Capital to stand up a Homeownership Center, and engaging in service planning for the upcoming Scholar House development, which will include tailored financial mobility services for residents.
1,454 Clients received homeownership counseling
1,879 Taxes prepared
4,887 Clients served through counseling and assistance programs
110 Youth employed in summer employment
Strong communities are built through active engagement and collaboration. We facilitate community-building activities, events and workshops that foster a sense of belonging and promote vital career connections among our residents. Through collaborations with local youth agencies and stakeholders, CHN provides young residents with year-round personal and professional development, as well as community building and employment opportunities. Through our summer youth employment program, over 100 youth received first-hand experience in a variety of roles at CHN and other local employers such as the Cleveland Botanical Garden, the Center for Arts Inspired Learning and The Cleveland Freedom Project.
200 Volunteers from 10 community partners participated in community clean-up days
CHN’s community engagement also included two community workdays to beautify the St. Clair Superior and Buckeye-Shaker neighborhoods. Nearly 200 volunteers including residents, staff and corporate sponsors such as Fifth Third Bank, Cleveland Police, The Cleveland Police Foundation and Burten, Bell, Carr, Development, Inc. participated. 2022 was the sixth year of CHN’s community workdays that furthered CHN's commitment to building strong relationships with the community.
Since 2010, CHN has self-financed its Lease Purchase residents with the belief that homeownership should be accessible to all borrowers, even those with lower credit scores. CHN Housing Capital was launched in 2021 to provide scalable access to capital for communities of color, low-to-moderate- income homebuyers, and homebuyers in low-income census tracts of Cuyahoga County through first mortgages, down payment assistance and home repair loans.
Early 2022 brought news that CHN Housing Capital had been certified as a CHN’s Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The certification is widely considered the "gold standard" for nonprofit lenders and unlocks additional resources to serve our communities. In 2022, CHN Housing Capital helped 110 families achieve their dream of homeownership through its flagship product, the Believe Mortgage, Y16 loans to Lease Purchase buyers and
In early 2022, Danelle and her three children under 10, Regina, Riya and Rodney, were staying with her sister’s family in a small home. She had been held back by her credit history when it came to finding an affordable home to call her own before a friend informed her about CHN’s Believe Mortgage.
The Believe Mortgage considers the borrower’s full financial profile, not just the credit score. Danelle got in touch with Ivelisse, a CHN Housing Capital mortgage loan officer, and applied. Ivelisse guided her through the necessary steps, which included completing an online homebuying class.
Danelle was approved for the Believe Mortgage and closed in April, 2023. Her new home has three bedrooms, a finished attic, and sufficient space for her and the children. Danelle has plans to decorate the home and convert the attic into an extra bedroom. “My children love it here. We have more space for everyone. Regina says it’s like living in a hotel," said Danelle.
Danelle enthusiastically recommends the Believe Mortgage to her coworkers who are considering becoming homeowners. With rising rents, buying a home becomes an attractive option for saving money and building equity. Danelle's search for a suitable home wasn't without challenges, but her journey serves as an inspiration to others who want to achieve the dream of homeownership.
In 2022, we created our Single Family Preservation program, which provides homeowners with funding and construction management services to repair their homes. In 2022, the program served 36 homeowners. Further, the City of North Olmsted used American Rescue Plan dollars to fund a program for its residents. Cuyahoga County used casino funds for a similar program.
In addition to home repair, we have begun to focus our efforts on acquisition rehabilitation to preserve homes with values
of $80,000 to $200,000 for affordable homeownership, addressing the missing middle housing segment with limited-to-no government subsidy.
Combined, these two programs will have a triple bottom-line effect of improving housing stability, creating a healthier home environment and increasing property values through substantial improvements.
In 2022, we launched our Homeownership Center to provide support and resources to clients at every stage of the homeownership process. Structured to remove barriers to homeownership, the Homeownership Center is comprised of a team of experts who assess where clients are in their homeownership journey and help them get over the finish line.
The Homeownership Center provides services tailored to each client’s needs.
If a borrower is ready for homeownership, they will work with a mortgage professional to determine eligibility for our loan products.
If a borrower is almost ready but needs some additional work, we help determine what more the borrower can do to purchase a home.
If the borrower needs more help, we will create a homeownership action plan, which will include homebuyer classes and more.
The Detroit Housing Network (DHN) is a coalition of housing service providers that have come together to provide equitable access to housing services in Detroit. In 2020, the City of Detroit began to contemplate the idea of a housing resource center, a centralized point of entry for accessing housing services across the City of Detroit. Having seen the breadth and depth of CHN’s experience in program development and delivery as well as coalition building, the City invited CHN to join a cohort of six high-performing housing service providers to co-design a coordinated housing service delivery model. With early funding from Rocket Community Fund, the Gilbert Family and Hudson-Webber foundations, Fifth Third Bank, and JP Morgan Chase, a discovery and co-design process, was conducted which led to the city awarding the role of Network Manager to CHN Housing Partners.
DHN’s collective mission is to create healthy neighborhoods and advance racial equity by increasing housing stability and affordable homeownership for Detroit residents.
In 2022 we continued to build towards that mission by working with Detroit’s housing ecosystem to onboard various programs and services into DHN. These services range from crisis intervention (foreclosure prevention, property tax exemptions, and home repair and maintenance) to housing services that empower residents to meet their housing goals (homebuyer education classes, down payment assistance, financial counseling and more).
2,189 Client applications were processed in DHN system
1,974 One-on-one housing counseling sessions were provided
876 Participants attended housing workshops
186 Residents worked with DHN members to apply for home repair services
As Network Manager, we work with DHN Members –the housing service providers in the Detroit Housing Network - to develop and maintain our shared customer relationship management system, workflows and a single, standardized intake form that Network Members use to serve Detroiters every day. Through this coordinated housing service delivery model, residents can access services online, through member support over the phone or in person. From this one entry point, residents can work with Network Members to find, understand and apply for the housing programs that will help them reach their housing goals. In collaboration with the City of Detroit, CHN and DHN Members use the data collected through these shared systems to advocate for accessible housing services and equitable housing policy in the city of Detroit.
The Detroit Housing Network marks a systematic alignment of public, private and philanthropic resources that aims to increase housing stability for Detroiters. Our work would not be possible without the collaboration with and funding from the City of Detroit, the DHN Network Members, the Rocket Community Fund, the Gilbert Family Foundation, the Hudson-Webber Foundation, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Fifth Third Bank and program partners.
Denise Casino, FrontLine Service
Nick DiSanto, JPMorgan Private Bank
Carolynn Galloway*, Vice Chair, Better Together Solar, Union-Miles Development Corp.
Reverend Jimmy L. Gates, Zion Hill Missionary Baptist Church
Cathryn Greenwald, Thompson Hine, LLP
Michael Griffin*, National Development Council
Sahnara Hendrix-Arney*, Secretary, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Kathy Hexter*, Retired, Cleveland State University
Loretta Hunter, Retired
Dan Last, KeyBank
Peter Meisel*, Carnegie Companies
George Palda, Attorney, Shaker Square Area Development Corp.
Caroline Peak*, Cleveland Public Library
Seronica Powell, Business Owner, Tremont West Development Corp.
Jim Poznik*, Treasurer, National Development Council
David Roney, Amazon, Burten, Bell, Carr Development, Inc.
Gary Sardon, G. Sardon Companies, Fairfax Renaissance Development Corp.
Michael Sering, Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry, St. Clair Superior Development Corp.
Tearra Smith*, PNC Bank
Krume Stojanovski*, Krume & Associates, Slavic Village Development
Chris Warren*, Board Chair, Northwest Neighborhoods
*Executive Committee
We are grateful to our funders for making our work possible. Funders include:
The Cleveland Foundation
The George Gund Foundation
NeighborWorks America
Gilbert Family Foundation
City of Cleveland
Cuyahoga County
KeyBank
United Way of Greater Cleveland
Citizens Bank RBS
Enterprise Community Partners
Westfield Insurance
Rocket Community Fund
Third Federal Savings & Loan
Hudson-Webber Foundation
Congregation of St. Joseph
US Bank
Ohio Housing Finance Agency
Nord Family Foundation
Huntington National Bank
Bank of America
Housing Partnership Network
McMaster-Carr Supply Co.
Fifth Third Bank
Holley Fowler Martens and Rob Martens
PNC
The Abington Foundation
Higley Fund of The Cleveland Foundation
The Reinberger Foundation
Meisel & Pesses Family Foundation
Community West Foundation
First Federal Lakewood
Prosperity Now
The Abington Foundation
Union Home Mortgage
Dollar Bank
