Rebuilding Together CEO visits Cleveland: 'This city has tremendous housing needs'

CLEVELAND - Rebuilding Together President and CEO Gray Officer spent the day in Cleveland, meeting with Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson to discuss a potential partnership that would restore Cleveland homes and neighborhoods.

Officer is hoping to partner with Cleveland to help address the thousands of Cleveland homes that are vacant or have fallen into disrepair during the post housing crisis era.

Officer had nothing but praise for Jackson and his commitment to improve neighborhoods throughout Cleveland.

"This city has tremendous housing needs, and it has a mayor who really is invested and understands the community," said Officer. "This community has a history of volunteerism and great capacity among its non-profit agencies. If any city could benefit from the collaboration between Rebuilding Together, the community, and the mayor's office, it's this city."

Rebuilding Together is a national agency that has provided extensive home rehabilitation and modification services to homeowners in-need, for the past 30 years. 

Officer explained Rebuilding Together has a network of 200 affiliated non-profits, that have brought  together 200,000 volunteers, to complete 10,000 projects across the country each year.

In August, NewsChannel5's Building Better Neighborhoods partnered with Rebuilding Together, Cleveland Councilman Kevin Conwell, and the Famicos Foundation.

The group created a street clean-up project that activated 100 volunteers, and resulted in the improvement of 20 homes in one neighborhood on Cleveland's east side.

Officer hopes Rebuilding Together can collaborate with the city of Cleveland to accomplish more extensive volunteer neighborhood clean-up projects in 2013.

"Next year take on 20 to 25 more homes, get more volunteers involved, more corporations, and layer in city funding," said Officer. "You get a lot more done with homes with these resources being combined."

Meanwhile, NewsChannel5 is also trying to spark volunteerism and help make a difference when it comes to vacant and condemned properties.

We're inviting residents to report nuisance properties through our Building Better Neighborhood initiative .

Just send us pictures and information on vacant homes in your neighborhood and we'll forward the information to your city building department, in an effort to move the properties to progress.

We are also giving residents information on how they can volunteer in their neighborhoods to make them better.