The rejection is not a judgment that Cleveland does not need the money. Cleveland’s housing stock includes many older homes, and lead hazards there remain a central concern for families and landlords. Instead, Signal Cleveland reported, HUD’s review looked beyond the lead program to the city’s broader track record on federal housing funds — its reporting, whether it hit its goals, and whether work finished on time, according to an explainer by PbFree Ohio drawing on Signal Cleveland.
That broader record gave federal officials pause. Last year the city came close to losing three existing federal lead grants because the money was being spent too slowly, Signal Cleveland reported. HUD has also raised concerns about how Cleveland handles its Community Development Block Grant funds, and a law firm the city hired found HUD could cut or halt that funding if the issues are not fixed, PbFree Ohio reported, drawing on Signal Cleveland.
City officials say the picture has been improving, even if not in time to save this application. Signal Cleveland reported that officials expressed disappointment and pointed to a faster pace of lead work recently, with about 100 housing units completed in the past year, compared with roughly 40 units over the five years before that. That acceleration matters, but it also underlines how slow the earlier pace had been — and why reviewers still looked at the longer record…