Fairfax Intergenerational Housing Initiative

The Fairfax Intergenerational Housing Project is designed to offer affordable housing options to grandparents, age 55 and older, who have legal custody of their grandchildren in Cleveland, OH. The project will be constructed on eighteen City of Cleveland landbank parcels and three private parcels, in the Fairfax Neighborhood. A total of 40 units will be newly constructed on these scattered sites, offering grandparents housing options near others living with similar circumstances. The development’s goal is to create a supportive living community. 

Housing of this type has been increasingly in demand, as family dynamics have shifted due to unemployment, military deployment, incarceration, substance abuse, and medical and/or emotional problems. Grandparents raising grandchildren often require a specialized type of housing designed to meet their needs. Presently, there are 13,000 households within Cuyahoga County and 10,000 within the city of Cleveland headed by grandparents on a permanent or temporary basis.  These families are routinely shut out of senior housing, and while some may own their own homes they are often unable to maintain them on fixed incomes. 

CMHA, working with the Fairfax Renaissance Development Corporation, hopes that the addition of new housing options for low-income families, headed by grandparents will decrease the burden on these families and open up new opportunities for continued self-sufficiency.