Facility to curb homelessness

Commission approved changes for permanent supportive housing coming to city, mayor says

A permanent supportive housing facility for the chronically homeless passed its first step.

On May 5, Elyria Planning Commission members passed lot consolidation and a parking spaces variance.

City Council will have to approve both issues.

Elyria Mayor Frank Whitfield said he’s excited for the development of the facility and thinks it will benefit the community.

“People who have been chronically homeless, they deserve to have stability and this will give an opportunity to achieve that,” Whitfield said.

The project is led by PIRHL Development and EDEN, both of which specialize in affordable housing.

Whitfield said he’s visited and toured a similar housing facility that PIRHL and EDEN have done in Cuyahoga County.

“It’s a beautiful building,” he said. “I really enjoyed the facility. I’m hoping it has the same quality of building in our city. We’re going to push for that.”

The agencies received tax credits from the Ohio Housing Financing Agency, which is the largest part of financing for the project, officials indicated.

They’ve also received a $1 million loan from the Federal Home Loan Bank and funding from the Lorain County Mental Health Board and the Nord Foundation.

Screening

To receive the funding, a deep screening process for potential residents and visitors into the facility will be conducted.

Potential tenants must have background checks, and there’s 24-hour surveillance of the housing facility.

The building also is locked 24 hours a day.

In addition, residents cannot have unannounced overnight guests, and they cannot have an overnight guest for more than a certain number of days in a row.

Guests must provide photo identification and be escorted through the building.

Those who live in the building also have a case worker assigned to work with them to keep them on top of medications and employment.

A case worker and front desk staff will be on call 24 hours a day.

“The people you’ve seen walking up and down the streets and down town, we’ll start to see a stable place to stay, and hopefully, we’ll see lives turn around,” Whitfield said. “They’ll have a permanent place where they can get stable and have their own lives, own places and own home to rebuild their lives.”

Eden and PIRHL bought the property from Lorain County Land Bank.

They’ve secured enough funding for 15 years and additional 15 totaling 30 years.

Although PIRHL initially asked to put in 27 parking spaces at the location, because only a handful of residents have cars, Planning Commission members wanted to add more in case the housing ended in 30 years.

Once a variance is granted, it’s permanent.

Also, PIRHL agreed to put in 60 parking spaces, and Planning Commission members supported it.

The proposed building will be three stories and have 62 units.

While design plans officially weren’t submitted to the city, steps were taken to begin the process and continue the development.

“The next steps, they’ll be coming to Commission, they’ll be coming to the city about the design and what fits with our environment in terms of requirements,” Whitfield said. “And making sure the design fits with the layout, the right materials and going through that process.

“Then they’ll be able to start building.”