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Toledo committee debates forgiving NeighborWorks’ HOME loans; administration warns repayments fund housing programs
Summary
At a meeting of the Toledo City Council Housing & Community Development Committee on Aug. 28, councilmembers, department staff and NeighborWorks representatives debated whether the city should forgive HOME‑program mortgage debt on four scattered‑site rental portfolios, with the administration urging repayment to sustain local housing programs and NeighborWorks pressing for relief to promote sales to tenants.
Council members and housing staff debated on Aug. 28 whether to forgive HOME‑program mortgage debt tied to several low‑income scattered‑site portfolios owned or managed by Neighborhoods Toledo Region (commonly called NeighborWorks). The discussion focused on four portfolios: United North School Homes 1 and 2, and Southeast Toledo Homes 1 and 2.
Colleen Ali, deputy director of the City of Toledo Department of Housing and Community Development, explained the department’s position that HOME funds are federal block grants appropriated through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and that repayment of city HOME loans becomes program income that the city recycles into housing programs. “The loans should, in fact, be paid back,” Ali said during the committee meeting, adding that the department has collected more than $1.2 million in loan repayments from 2022 through 2025 and that the city’s outstanding HOME‑loan portfolio shows just over $10 million in current loans (department figures presented at the meeting).
Ali told the committee that HOME allocations to Toledo have fluctuated and that the department saw a drop of $652,765.24 in HOME funding in 2024 compared with prior years; she also…
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