Half-million allotment approved for metropolitan housing

MEDINA — Half a million dollars in federal American Rescue Plan funds will go toward Medina Metropolitan Housing Authority's construction of permanent homes for homeless residents living with disabilities. The allotment was approved Tuesday by Medina County Commissioners. Plans call for 10 supportive housing units on Lafayette Road near Independence Drive that organizers hope to break ground on by next spring, said Medina Metropolitan Housing Authority director Skip Sipos. "All of this money is earmarked for this one project and it's going to improve the lives of many, many residents," he said. "The goal is to build those 10 permanent supportive homes and getting the big (land) donation also helped a lot of that. This is going to be housing for homeless individuals with a federally qualified disability." Earlier this year, Medina County donated a 0.62-acre plot for the project that will be joined with a second tract of land to form a roughly 1-acre area for the new housing. The site lies just south of the Medina County Juvenile Detention Center, 655 Commerce Drive. Sipos said the ultimate price tag to build the new housing units could fall around $1.8 million and that additional funding to cover that total is now being sought. "We're very confident that we can secure those funds," he said. "The hope is to move dirt next year and to get everything done in eight or nine months depending on weather and anything else we'd run into on the site. We don't expect that, though, after all the architectural studies and other measures we've taken. "The goal is to be done by late next year. We have a lot of folks around here who need it. The housing authority will probably kick in some of the money itself and we'll probably borrow a little bit. The bigger chunk will come from the Ohio Housing Finance Agency. It funded Santee Landing for us too." Medina Metropolitan Housing Authority is preparing to open Santee Landing, a 45-unit low-income apartment complex at 451 Seville Road in Wadsworth. Construction there carried a roughly $10 million price tag. "We want to be done with our work there in early November and then be able to start leasing in the middle of the month," Sipos said. "These aren't subsidized, just affordable units. It's been a long process for us getting to this point right near the end and everyone is ready to finally take these next steps." Contact reporter Jonathan Delozier at (330) 721-4050 or jdelozier@medina-gazette.com.