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The Home Enhancement Loan Program (HELP) was a response by the County Treasurer and others to the situation in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. Population has been on the decline. County residents who move are as likely to move to the surrounding counties as they are to move to outer-ring communities of the county itself. Governance in the county is very fragmented - 56 different municipalities, over 30 separate school districts - serving a population of approximately 1.4 million people. At the heart of the county is Cleveland, with a population of about 500,000.
A comprehensive approach to the decline of first ring communities and out-migration would require regional coordination, and would address issues of direct and indirect state and federal subsidies of edge city development and sprawl. HELP is an example of ad hoc or "back door" regionalism. It recognizes that even if the county government cannot control what happens at the "edge", there are still things that can be done to strengthen the "core".
This program, believed to be the first of its kind in the country, is a linked deposit program that offers county residents loans to at three percentage points less than the lowest rate a bank would otherwise charge. The goal is to allow owners to repair or improve homes and apartments in communities that are facing decline and out-migration. Developed by Cuyahoga County Treasurer Jim Rokakis in conjunction with the Northeast Ohio First Suburbs Consortium, the program invests a portion of the county’s investment portfolio at a reduced rate of interest in certificates of deposit at participating banks. The lending institutions in turn reduce the interest rate offered to borrowers. Over $32 million has been loaned to almost 3000 property owners since the program began in July 1999.
A survey of loan recipients indicates that a significant majority would not have proceeded with their home improvements without the program, and that a significant majority says that the renovations and repairs made staying in their current homes more likely. HELP has received the Community Impact Award from Dominion East Ohio/Inside Business Magazine, as well as an award from the National Association of the Remodeling Industry (Greater Cleveland chapter). Governor Taft and State Treasurer Deters have developed a statewide program in Ohio patterned on Cuyahoga County's successful initiative. Treasurer Rokakis has been invited to speak about the program at the Government Finance Officers Association Annual Conference, the APA National Planning Conference, and the Ohio Urban University Public Policy Forum.
Author and Copyright Information
Copyright 2001 by Authors
Howard Katz has served as the Director of Strategic Planning and Policy for the Cuyahoga County Treasurer’s Office since March 1997, when Jim Rokakis took office as Treasurer. Howard has been instrumental in many improvements and initiatives of the office, including a recent statewide conference on predatory lending, and was the architect of the Home Enhancement Loan Program (HELP). He is a member of the Congress for the New Urbanism.
Prior to working for Treasurer Rokakis, Howard was for many years a law professor. He also has taught in two MBA programs. From 1990-93 he served as Chief Counsel to the Cleveland City Council. Howard is a graduate of Case Western Reserve University and Harvard Law School. He is the co-author (with Ronald Green) of The Ethical Manager, 2d. ed. (Prentice Hall, forthcoming 2002).
Jim Rokakis is the Treasurer of Cuyahoga County. He took office in March 1997 after serving 20 years on Cleveland City Council (the last seven as chair of the Finance Committee). Jim was re-elected in 2000.
Jim has brought sweeping reform to the treasurer's office. He completely overhauled Cuyahoga County’s property tax collection system – among the slowest in Ohio – to one of the fastest and most efficient systems in the state, earning significant additional annual interest income for school systems throughout the County. Rokakis has significantly improved the county's investment function, achieved a change in state law to allow counties to sell their delinquent tax liens to a private buyer, and has helped thousands of citizens get unclaimed funds returned to them by the state.
To begin to address the issue of the decline of older suburbs and the resulting out-migration and sprawl, Rokakis worked with the First Suburbs Consortium to develop the Home Enhancement Loan Program (HELP) for Cleveland and 31 suburbs in Cuyahoga County.
As a city councilman representing the neighborhood he grew up in, he brought significant new development to his ward. He successfully worked to create Cleveland's Housing Court, to upgrade the city's bond rating, and to balance seven consecutive city budgets. Jim was a leader in developing the Gateway Sports Complex - a catalyst for the revitalization of downtown Cleveland - and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.
Jim is a graduate of Oberlin College and Cleveland-Marshall School of Law.
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