Raise Up outlines $430-unit South Lorraine plan, park and redevelopment steps amid HUD funding uncertainty

Raise Up, the agency formerly known as the Lorain Metropolitan Housing Authority, presented redevelopment plans for South Lorraine and other city properties to members of the Lorain Boards & Commissions during a public meeting, outlining a multi‑phase housing strategy, an early‑action park project and contingency steps if federal implementation funding does not arrive.

The agency’s chief executive officer, Judy Carlin, said Raise Up submitted a Choice Neighborhoods planning document to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that HUD accepted earlier this year and that the plan defines a housing strategy for a South Side Gateway area bounded roughly by Broadway to Grove and Eighth to 36th streets. "We are committed to providing resources that help individuals thrive and our community grow and thrive," Carlin said.

Why it matters: the Choice Neighborhoods implementation grant — if issued — would supply the largest infusion of outside funding for the plan; Raise Up and the city say they want to be ready to apply but are preparing alternate financing and projects that do not rely on an implementation award.

Raise Up described the housing strategy in the planning document as roughly 430 units in five phases. Carlin said the plan envisions about 115 mixed‑income rental and homeownership units on the current Southside Gardens site and roughly 315 additional mixed‑income units elsewhere in the neighborhood, with Habitat for Humanity remaining a partner. The Choice planning grant is a neighborhood‑focused blueprint; HUD accepted the plan but Carlin said HUD had not issued an implementation notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) as of the meeting.

The agency also described an early‑action park project that was developed with…