Cleveland will spend federal stimulus money testing out unique approaches to poverty and affordable housing: building homes with a 3D printer and securing $50,000-a-year jobs for 100 people.
The two separate proposals, both introduced by Ward 7 Council Member Stephanie Howse-Jones, won the backing of Cleveland City Council on Monday night.The money comes from the city’s nearly $512 million allocation from the American Rescue Plan Act.
City Hall is far off from raising up neighborhoods full of 3D-printed homes or creating a universal jobs guarantee for residents. The money – $1.1 million in total – will support a two-house pilot and administrative costs for the jobs program.
Council is redirecting the money from a $2 million grant awarded years ago to Northeast Ohio Neighborhood Health Services, a network of health clinics based in Ward 7 that has run into financial trouble in the past.
A new jobs program for Cleveland
Council signed off on $600,000 in seed money for what advocates say will be a $21 million jobs program. The idea behind Universal Basic Employment, as the effort is called, is to give 100 people in a neighborhood an economic and social leg up by securing them local jobs and subsidizing $50,000 salaries for three years.
Devin Cotten, the Cleveland-area founder of Universal Basic Employment, pitched the concept as “a simultaneous investment in people, place and business.” Cotten plans to enlist other nonprofits to support the businesses and employees enrolled in the program.
The city’s money will help cover initial costs over the program’s first two years, leading up to its launch in 2026. Some council members were skeptical, asking why the city should commit its money to the program when the full $21 million hadn’t been raised yet.
Ward 9 Council Member Michael Polensek, who voted against the proposal in council’s finance committee on Monday, said the focus ought to be on giving schoolkids more job skills. When the money runs out at the year of the three-year program, he said, it would be “hasta la vista, baby.”
“This is a life preserver, a three-year life preserver at best, and we have to recognize that,” Polensek said. “If that’s what we want to do, then let’s do it. Then let’s do it, with the hope, because again, we’re gambling. We’re taking a gamble here.”
Universal Basic Employment has the backing of the United Way of Greater Cleveland. Cotten said the earlier stages of the idea received foundation support and that he had had “very good conversations” with the local philanthropic world.
Another high-profile backer is Randy McShepherd, the vice president of public affairs at manufacturer RPM International. He said the jobs program could have residual effects in the workers’ neighborhoods.
“To start with this 100, at least you’re getting people exposed to the workplace,” McShephard said. “Their families can see it. Their neighbors can see it.”
Howse-Jones, the sponsor of the legislation, said the program was asking a policy question about social services: Is it better to spend money helping people get jobs, or to provide aid only after they have fallen into dire straits?
“We are spending and investing a significant amount of resources to manage and sustain poverty, not transforming and getting out of poverty,” she said.
Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry to test 3D-printed houses
Cleveland will spend more ARPA money on a $500,000 pilot program to construct houses using 3D printing technology. With City Hall’s help, Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry plans to build two houses with automated machinery that can make a home exterior out of layered concrete.
LMM will spend $150,000 drawing up a business plan and evaluating companies that build such houses. The remaining $350,000 will go toward construction costs for the two houses.
In its presentation to council, the nonprofit pitched 3D homes as a safer and more affordable alternative to Cleveland’s current housing stock. With a 3D printer, Cleveland can fill vacant lots quickly, inexpensively and without the lead paint that lurks inside many older properties, LMM’s presentation slides said.
