Downtown Cleveland Housing, By the Numbers

As cranes continue to pop up and twirl around town this summer and development projects continue apace, the Downtown Cleveland Alliance this week released its housing report, compiled by Philadelphia’s Urban Partners.

It affirmed a few things one would probably assume — not many people own homes downtown, only 6% of residents, good for one of the lowest stats in the Midwest — and others that might not be obvious.

Here are a few major takeaways from the report:

• Downtown is one of Cleveland’s only growing neighborhoods. From 2010 to 2020, Cleveland as a whole lost 24,191 people; Cuyahoga County, 15,305 people. (The west side lost “just” 26.) On the flip side, the Downtown Core—which Urban Partners defines as the Flats to I-90—gained 3,378 residents, a 22 percent increase over ten years. Downtown is also whiter than it once was: 56 percent of the neighborhood in 2020, compared to 51 percent in 2010. (But 1.5 percent more Asian residents)

• Millennial Downtowners still tend to buy homes elsewhere. Downtown only gained some 200 homeowners in the past decade. This is pretty bad compared to the study’s 11 other cities, where Cleveland is dead last. Philadelphia’s Center City is roughly 39 percent homeowners, Cincinnati’s is 23 percent, Detroit’s is at 10 percent. The report states clearly that this is a supply issue, and recommends for Cleveland to help ready-to-do developers with construction loans and state tax credits for workforce living.

• Work here, live elsewhere. A vast, vast percentage of Downtown workers still do not live where they work. The study found that, even after 10 years of high-rise build outs, only 2 percent of the core’s labor force actually lives close by. (Up 1 percent from 2010.) In contract, 50 percent live “elsewhere” in Cuyahoga County, while a whopping 33 percent commute Downtown from the surrounding six counties—or further.
  

  

• Rents and building have soared; income hasn’t. While the vast majority of Downtown’s new high rises, mid rises and renovations have opened up to renters in the past three, four years, Downtown remains generally more impoverished on average: 24 percent in the core make less than $10,000/year. (Compare to 18 percent for the city as a whole.) Regardless, rents continue to spike: In 2010, Downtown offered 850 apartments in the $1,000 to $1,499 price range; in 2020, that number spiked to 2,298. Moreover, the household income needed to afford a new condo—like those popping up on Superior Ave.—is roughly $130,000, Urban Partners discovered. (An amount made by just 15 percent of Downtowners.)

• Downtown still needs to sell itself. Urban Partners, among is seven strategy recommendations, urges stakeholders to “improve pedestrian walkability” and transit, and gives a thumbs up to in-progress projects like the Superior Avenue Midway bike lane and Irishtown Bend Park. Citing Vancouver’s Downtown, the researchers suggest following the Canadian city’s own response to weather whiplash—by, for example, placing “a new emphasis on creating spaces that are usable year-round.” Which Cleveland, admittedly, has not been the best at.
• We should make it to 30,000 Downtowners by 2032. Based on three growth models, Urban Partners thinks the milestone number could be a reality. Or it might be 28,000. Or, just 26,000.

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This article appears in Apr 19 – May 3, 2023.