A deeply damaged urban neighborhood on Cleveland’s East side has been targeted as future housing for inter-generational families.
The non-profit Fairfax Renaissance Development Corp. is sponsoring a national competition to design the nation’s first Universal Design housing complex tailored for grandparents who are primary caregivers for their grandchildren.
There’s an enormous need for such housing in Cleveland and elsewhere, said Jay Gardner, a Fairfax spokesman who sees the project as a model for other urban centers.
The complex will include roughly 35 to 40 apartments and/or single family houses, with each house costing $85,000 to $120,000 to build.
The design competition, being coordinated by the Kent State University Urban Design Collaborative specifies the housing should be comfortable for aging people and safe for children as young as infants.
“We want to see shovels in the ground in 2009 and an opening in 2010,” Gardner said.
