Cleveland
Heights
One of the many vacant houses within the Cleveland Heights
complex.
Select a Category:
History
Demography
Change
Weaknesses
The picture above shows an occupied house within the Cleveland Heights complex.
Cleveland Heights was built in 1967 with an available 42 units to its residents. Cleveland Heights was formerly a landfill for the city of Newark. The landfill, however, was last used in the 1950's and has since been covered with two feet of top-soil. Still, it has created problems in recent years. Environmentalists believe that this former landfill is polluting Newark's White Clay Creek. City officials have not yet determined the actual size of the landfill.
Education
Many Section-eight housing resdients lack the "proper" education. Although some of the Cleveland Heights residents have their high school diplomas, the majority of them only have some high school education.
Race and Ethnicity
Although the overwhelming majority of Cleveland Heights residents are black, there are a few white residents. This is a common proportion of race among section-eight housing residents.
Income
Participants in public housing pay approximately 30%
of their income for rent. The provided link shows the amount that residents
of Cleveland Heights and all of Delaware's public housing units would have
to pay for housing in proportion to their income.
http://www2.state.de.us/dsha/INCOME41.pdf
Occupation
A a result of their lack of education, Cleveland Heights residents are limited to certan lower level jobs options. These jobs consist mostly of blue collar type work that pay low wages and provide little to no benefits. Examples of such jobs are found within the fast food industry and other unskilled labor industries.
Cleveland Heights, over its 38 year existence, has like all neighborhoods gone through its fair share of change. As do most public housing facilities, it began as quality housing and since become deplorable and downtrodden. Of the 42 family units that were once occupied, 22 are vacant. This is due to a number of reasons (see Weaknesses). Because of how it is today, the Newark Housing Authority (NHA) is trying to seek federal approval to demolish the development. In doing so, they plan to relocate the existing residents throughout the city of Newark. The executive of the NHA has proposed a plan that would complete the process in three phases:
With 20 scatter sites already in the city, the relocation of the residents currently residing in Cleveland Heights would increase the total number of scatter sites by approximately 50. Residents of other areas do not agree with the spreading of these families. Rob Detwieler, a member of College Park, stated that, "[The] housing authority has hurt [my] neighborhood by sending troubled families into a neighborhood already having plenty of troubled households."
In relation to all Section-eight housing, there are no apparent strengths. Like the rest, Cleveland Heights has been sited for deplorable living conditions. Numerous homes report leaky ceilings and mold problems within them. Because the low income residents do not have sufficient funds for maintainance and upkeep and are not recieving aid from NHA or HUD, these problems are not corrected. The neighborhood has also developed a reputation for its high crime rate and the numerous drug deals that take place. In contrast, however, one resident whom I spontaneously interviewed commented the Cleveland Heights has since become better place to live. The outcome being their kids can now play outside, the neighborhood is quieter, and there is no crime.
Here at the nearby park the children of Cleveland Heights
are given the oppurtunity to recreate.
© Copyright 2005 J. Turlington
