Family Promise of Summit County, a nonprofit that houses families experiencing homelessness, received $850,000 from the State of Ohio to purchase and renovate an apartment building.

The money, from the state Department of Development, will go toward buying what is now a four-unit, market-rate apartment building on Forest Glen Drive in Cuyahoga Falls. Jeff Wilhite, the executive director of Family Promise, said he plans to add a fifth unit to the building.

“We’re really excited about it,” he said. “We were really stunned we got our project fully funded.”

The grant is one of four the state awarded using American Rescue Plan money, for a total of $4 million. In a statement, Lydia Mihalik, the director of the Department of Development, said projects like Wilhite’s help provide Ohioans with a fresh start and a path forward.

“When someone has a safe place to start over, everything else — employment, education, health — becomes possible,” she said.

Tim Madden, who owns the building currently, has long been a supporter of Family Promise, Wilhite said. Madden did not respond to a phone call seeking comment, but Wilhite said the current residents of the property are on month-to-month leases and will be given notice that they have to relocate.

Summit County residents can get connected to the Family Promise program through the homeless hotline, 330-615-0577. The hotline is available weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Family Promise will replace windows and lights and make other improvements to the property, in addition to building out an extra unit. Additionally, the apartment building has a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to add solar panels, something Wilhite said will help Family Promise control energy costs for the project.

The new building will serve families of up to five people, including their pets, Wilhite said, while larger families will continue to be housed in Family Promise’s Copley Road building. He said the building is in good shape and he expects people to be living there by the end of the year.

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Wilhite said the new building will bring the number of families Family Promise can serve at once to 15, from 10. Families stay an average of 60 days in the nonprofit’s housing while they get help finding jobs, schooling or other necessities to get on their feet.

“It really helps with the current need that’s out here,” Wilhite said. “We constantly have a waiting list.”

Economics of Akron Reporter (she/her)
Arielle is a Northeast Ohio native with more than 20 years of reporting experience in Cleveland, Atlanta and Detroit. She joined Signal Akron as its founding education reporter, where she covered Akron Public Schools and the University of Akron.
As the economics of Akron reporter, Arielle will cover topics including housing, economic development and job availability. Through her reporting, she aims to help Akron residents understand the economic issues that are affecting their ability to live full lives in the city, and highlight information that can help residents make decisions. Arielle values diverse voices in her reporting and seeks to write about under-covered issues and groups.