Fair Housing board hears updates on home-rehab loans, $15,000 essential repairs and Habitat partnership

Housing division staff updated the Fair Housing Board on a suite of housing programs intended to help low- and moderate-income residents repair and buy homes.

The presenter said the home rehabilitation loan program serves households at roughly 60–80% of area median income and functions as a deferred forgivable loan: "it's a fully forgivable, deferred loan," the housing division official said, describing a 10-year forgiveness schedule in which "every year, one tenth of the loan will fall off." Staff said the program will address code, health and safety violations and may fund up to $75,000 per property for comprehensive repairs.

The official reported the program is scaling up: staff have four homes in the pipeline with contractors approved and work about to start, compared with three completed projects last year. The division also said the intake backlog is shrinking — staff estimated a waiting list of about six active applications — and committed to expanding outreach beyond the city website to community events and school district channels.

Board members asked whether applicants with short- or long-term disabilities qualify. The presenter said applicants may apply for reasonable-accommodation work with third-party certification of medical need, but they must meet federal income guidelines tied to the funding source: "applicants who fall under 60%" AMI qualify for the fully forgivable loan, while those between 60% and 80% AMI face a smaller repayment schedule, the official said.

Staff also described a separate Essential Home Repair program designed for a single primary-residence project up to $15,000 — covering items such as roofs, gutters, windows, furnaces and one major plumbing or electrical repair — and noted that program moves more expeditiously than the larger rehab loan.

To help households whose full scope exceeds program caps, staff outlined an existing partnership with Habitat for Humanity. The housing official said Habitat can shoulder portions of a larger project so the city's funds can address life-safety needs, and staff are planning an infill development with Habitat to build about 13 homes in Lorain this year.

The board pressed staff on projects in flood-prone areas; staff replied the city programs focus on interior structural and life-safety repairs and on contractor warranties (staff described a roughly 10-year warranty on certain waterproofing work). They added that the programs are not emergency-response services; immediate infrastructure failures, such as sewer or street drainage problems, should be routed to emergency or infrastructure providers and partner agencies.

Staff said the city has applied to become a certified housing counseling agency and plans to launch down-payment assistance of up to $14,900 or 10% of purchase price alongside one-on-one counseling and pre-purchase education to prepare buyers.

The board also heard about a planned rehabilitation of a non-congregate shelter in partnership with Neighborhood Alliance; staff said the city would fund the rehabilitation while Neighborhood Alliance would manage eligibility and operations, with referrals routed through coordinated entry.

On policy matters, staff said they can provide the board with the adopted code revisions; recent changes discussed include updating jurisdiction references, adjusting quorum language and adding source-of-income as a protected class. Staff noted that some edits were grammatical and that council action or amendments may be required to finalize others.

The board accepted the minutes and adjourned at 4:25 p.m. The next procedural step noted for a separate personnel item: once a formal recommendation for a board vacancy is received from a commissioner, the mayor would appoint and city council would confirm the appointment.