Don’t make the mistake of thinking that the small houses on Luther Avenue, off East 55th Street, are like many new homes being built in the city.
These houses stand out for their high energy efficiency, including being solar powered. Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry (LMM) developed the units to provide affordable housing. They’re designed for people coming out of homelessness who are ready to live independently, said Michael Sering, the nonprofit social service agency’s chief program officer. The goal is for these low-income renters not to pay more than 30% of their income.
Mention affordable housing and few think of utilities, but they should, Sering said. Utilities often comprise 15% to 30% of a renter’s housing budget, depending on how energy efficient the unit is.
“By being energy efficient, with solar power, insulation and everything else, the LMM solar efficiencies will almost completely knock out that portion of a renter’s budget,” he said.
At least most of the year.
“The only problem in Cleveland in the wintertime is that renters are going to have a small bill, maybe $20 a month,” he said.
In winter our often sunless days and frigid temperatures can make relying solely on solar difficult. That is why the units also have heat pumps, which use electricity.
Energy bills for LMM solar efficiencies will be almost nothing
At first glance, the structures appear to be single-family homes, but they are side-by-side duplexes. Each contains two 500-square-foot apartments, whose light walls and interiors and high ceilings give a sense of airiness. The LMM solar efficiencies in the St. Clair-Superior neighborhood are on the same street as one side of the old Richman Brothers Co. factory.
The ribbon-cutting for the LMM solar efficiencies was held two weeks ago. The units won’t be rented until they are finished, which probably won’t be before the end of the year, Sering said. Solar panels, siding and interior finishes were among the things still to be completed as the ribbon-cutting took place.
Renters will be clients of the non-profit’s services and programs, which include those for people who are homeless. They can’t have barriers, such as active substance abuse.
The ceremony drew affordable housing advocates, green energy advocates, public officials and other financial backers, including representatives from banks and foundations. After the ribbon-cutting, a couple of dozen of them gathered inside to tour the units and escape the unseasonable autumn chill.
Packy Hyland stood in the doorway of a unit commenting on the thickness of the wall. His company, PadSmart, which builds solar-powered energy-efficient homes, built the LMM solar efficiencies. He remarked that the highly insulated wall is almost a foot thick.
To get a little technical, the insulation is R-42, a performance rating reflecting that the insulation does a very effective job at keeping the apartments warm in winter and cool in summer. It provides more than double the insulating power than that in many new homes, Hyland said. The entire unit is designed to excel in keeping energy bills low. The roof is super insulated. The units, which sit on a slab, are insulated underneath, and the double-pane windows are energy efficient. The appliances, including one that both washes and dries clothes in the same load, all have high energy efficiency ratings.
“It’s like a big Yeti cooler, so efficient at keeping heat and cold in or out [depending on the outside temperature],” he said.
Will more LMM solar efficiencies be built?
The LMM solar efficiencies were built on parcels transferred from either the Cuyahoga Land Bank or the Cleveland Land Bank, Sering said. He said LMM owns enough land between the two duplexes to build another one. There are about a dozen parcels owned by the city land bank on the street or adjacent land that could potentially become the basis of a community of LMM solar efficiencies, Sering said.
“There’s a lot of potential here,” he said.
Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Chris Ronayne, who attended the ribbon cutting, agrees.
“I think what’s exciting about this is that it is innovative housing,” he said. “This is a model to not only construct solar housing, but affordable housing. These homes can be replicated many times over here in the city of Cleveland and in many of our suburban communities that lack affordable housing. In many of our suburban communities, there are persons who are experiencing homelessness.”
Many affordable housing advocates fear that homelessness is increasing in Greater Cleveland. During the pandemic fewer people were unsheltered because of policies such as the moratorium on evictions.
LMM runs the men’s shelter at 2100 Lakeside Ave. Sering said population statistics at the shelter show that, during the pandemic, the shelter population dipped. Now it is creeping back up.
In 2018, LMM served 3,582 people at the shelter. By 2020 it had fallen 2,896 and continued to decrease through 2023, when it was 2,594. The population inched up to 2,630 last year and appears on track to inch up again this year.
Sering is also concerned that the Trump administration’s abandoning the Housing First policy could add to homelessness in Greater Cleveland. Under that policy, priority was given to first placing people in permanent housing while also getting them the wraparound services they needed, such as drug treatment.
“This has been the main concept and a successful evidence-based practice for the last 25 years,” he said. “When someone’s homeless, they need housing.”
Under the new approach, if homeless individuals need drug treatment, they would be placed in mandatory treatment and would most likely only be eligible for transitional – not permanent – housing.
Each LMM solar efficiency costs $170,000 to construct or a total of $680,000 for the two duplexes. The funding came from public and private sources.They include Anthem, the Cleveland Foundation, Cuyahoga County, the Cuyahoga Land Bank and the Cuyahoga Land Bank Charities.
Ronayne said the county put about $200,000 into the LMM solar efficiencies project. As he stood outside one of the units, he gave another reason why he liked the project.
“It’s got a front porch, which builds community,” Ronayne said. “It’s got solar, which is bringing down carbon emissions. This, to me, is the nexus of affordable housing with clean energy. “