The first public housing authority in the nation was established in Cleveland in the 1930s, and today more than 10,000 people live in subsidized units across the city and its inner ring suburbs. That’s twice as many as in Cincinnati and five times as many as in Columbus. Yet while much optimism and promise surrounded these neighborhoods’ construction, today public housing in Cleveland and throughout the U.S. faces dwindling federal funding, deteriorating buildings and negative stereotypes.
In this latest stop on The Sound of Ideas Community Tour, hosted by Mike McIntyre, a panel of neighborhood residents, public officials and experts talk about what’s next for one of Cleveland’s largest and oldest public housing neighborhoods: Woodhill Homes, about a mile south of University Circle. Woodhill is in the midst of a two-year plan to determine its future, and what happens here has the potential to set a new course for public housing in Cleveland and the nation.
-Justin Glanville, Reporter, ideastream
-Jeanette Marbley, Resident & President, Woodhill Local Advisory Council
-Torrie Goodman, Resident
-Michelle Bandy-Zalatoris, Senior Urban Designer and Planner, City Architecture
-Dr. Mittie Jones, PhD, Associate Professor Emerita, Cleveland State University
-Taryn Gress, Strategic Director, National Initiative on Mixed-Income Communities, School of Applied Social Sciences, Case Western Reserve University
-Tania Menesse, Director of Community Development, City of Cleveland
-Jeffery K. Patterson, Chief Executive Officer and Safety Director, Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority
