A Home for Every Neighbor
Overview
In 2024, under Mayor Bibb’s leadership, the City of Cleveland launched the “A Home for Every Neighbor” – Cleveland-led initiative that will provide more resources, increase options, and expedite the housing process for unsheltered residents.
Previously, the City assumed a secondary role acting as a financial intermediary and heavily relied on other agencies to address issues facing the local unsheltered community. Now, the City is taking on a more active, co-lead role – in partnership with Cuyahoga County and the Office of Homeless Services (OHS) – to tackle unsheltered homelessness head-on.
This direct city-level involvement – based on best practices from other cities around the country – will be a first for Cleveland and underscores the Bibb Administration’s commitment to improving conditions for the unsheltered community.
Strategy
“A Home for Every Neighbor” is an all-encompassing strategy designed to address the root causes of the homelessness cycle and improve all aspects of the housing process. The City’s strategy consists of four key components:
- Engage – Adopting and implementing an intensive, tailored engagement strategy that will consist of deploying various street outreach teams to targeted areas to connect unsheltered residents with resources and emergency, temporary, or other short-term housing options.
- Collaborate – Working with the County’s OHS, and other providers in the Continuum of Care, to facilitate information-sharing, jointly evaluate programs, and make improvements to services based on data-driven results. The City will also leverage public-private partnerships to obtain additional funding, build up programming, and improve workforce and educational opportunities.
- Incentivize – Linking housing repair programs with landlord incentives as a recruitment tool to increase participation in rental assistance, utility assistance, hotel/motel vouchers, and other related programs. The City will also work with developers to ensure that certain criteria is met in an effort to make projects more accommodating to residents exiting unsheltered situations.
- Build – Renovating existing facilities, rehabbing and converting repurposed buildings, and constructing new affordable housing units. The City will also explore ways to improve overall services that may be provided during the course of the housing process (e.g. transportation, meal boxes, legal aid, case management, health provider options, childcare, etc.).
Progress to Date
To date, more than 185 unsheltered neighbors have secured permanent housing through the A Home for Every Neighbor initiative.
Watch the Impact
Learn more about the impact of this initiative by viewing the video at the following link: