Committee advances $5M CHN contract and $4M in tax-relief pilot design for seniors

The Cuyahoga County Community Development Committee voted Nov. 18 to advance a two-year pilot program designed to help seniors facing property-tax delinquency and to authorize contracting for program administration and housing counseling.

Brad Cromas, county treasurer, presented the proposal and said the pilot would provide up to $10,000 in one-time assistance per taxpayer for qualifying homeowners, with direct-assistance pools of $2 million in each of two years and a separate $500,000 pool each year for housing counseling and program administration by CHN Housing Partners. Cromas said CHN’s contract for housing counseling and program administration is proposed “in the amount not to exceed $5,000,000” for two years.

Cromas described eligibility parameters in the proposal presented to the committee: applicants age 70 or older, with annual incomes at or below $70,000, and who are property-tax delinquent. To discourage short-term flipping, the proposal includes residency-duration and post-assistance longevity requirements: recipients would have to have lived in the property for at least three years…