Akron officials are looking for ways to provide more housing in the city in an effort to combat on homelessness.
In a news conference with other officials, Mayor Shammas Malik highlighted the I Promise Apartment Complex, which provides affordable housing to low-income residents.
Malik was joined by U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge and U.S. Rep. Emilia Sykes, who represents Ohio’s 13th district, which includes Akron.
“[The apartment project] took forever because so many different hands had to be stacked to make this work,” Malik said. “This is an example of local, state and federal government working together.”
The housing complex is run by the East Akron Neighborhood Development Corporation.
Homelessness continues to rise in the city, Malik said. The number of people seeking emergency overnight shelter at the Peter Maurin Center, which opens when the temperature is frigid, nearly doubled this year, he said.
“I think we'd like to see more overnight options … not just when it gets very cold but really, you know, seasonally,” Malik said. “From there, we've just passed (the) capital budget with money for tiny homes.”
The city budgeted $150,000 for a pilot program aimed at building two to three tiny homes for unhoused people, Malik said.
Malik also wants to get ideas from other Northeast Ohio communities facing similar challenges.
The challenge is seen across the nation due to the end of pandemic-related rent aid, inflation and the skyrocketing price of rent, Fudge said.
The solution, she said, is to build more housing — but she said there hasn't been enough action from federal and local lawmakers.
“The situation gets more dire when we don't put the resources behind it or start to find ways to build more housing,” Fudge said. “That is the answer. We, as a nation, have to decide that this is a priority.”
HUD gave out $3 billion to Continuums of Care, agencies that address homelessness, across the country earlier this year, she added.
HUD could have access to even more resources if there wasn’t such a gridlock in Congress, Sykes added.
“Unfortunately, we have seen the chaos in Congress that has not allowed us to even pass appropriation bills to get the resources to the people who can facilitate the work,” she said.
In addition to touring the I Promise apartments, Sykes and Fudge participated in a roundtable discussion about housing with community members at the Summit Lake Community Center.
That discussion was closed to members of the media.
