NEWS RELEASE

JEWISH COMMUNITY FEDERATION OF CLEVELAND

• Many relocate to far eastern suburbs
• Heights, Beachwood remain hubs of Jewish life
• Federation study done in conjunction with Cleveland State University
• Part of Federation efforts to identify and provide needed services
  

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Many Jewish households in Greater Cleveland are moving from "inner-ring" Cuyahoga County suburbs to further eastern suburbs with newer homes. But a substantial number of first-time homebuyers are moving into Heights-area communities, supporting a vibrant and large Jewish population there.

The findings come from a new Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland study prepared by The Center for Housing and Research Policy, which is directed by Thomas Bier, Ph.D., at The Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs at Cleveland State University.

By understanding patterns in Jewish community home-buying and home-selling, the Federation can better identify needs, develop programs and secure funding for services, said Robert A. Immerman, chair of the Federation's Community Planning Committee.

"It helps us make more accurate, thoughtful and targeted decisions," he said.

The study grew out of the Federation's 2002 Strategic Plan. That document identified ways the Federation would meet crucial needs, strengthen ties to Judaism and community, build future leadership and foster greater unity based on the Jewish concept of k'lal Yisrael – that the Jewish people are one people and responsible for one another.

Part of that strategy was to engage in ongoing research to ensure a more data-driven approach to community planning. A Research and Evaluation Subcommittee of the Community Planning Committee is being formed to support and oversee future research partnerships with CSU and other local institutions.

The immediate next step, Immerman said, is to look at the demographics of the households. Differences of age, family composition and other factors among households in different geographic regions are likely to impact social service planning.

The findings came as no surprise to Dr. Mark S. Rosentraub, dean of the Levin College, who said this type of location decision making is also common in the non-Jewish Cleveland community and nationwide. "First-time buyers typically establish their homes in older and less expensive communities," he said. "When their means increase, they tend to move to areas with newer and more expensive homes, a variety of housing stock, and more space."

Highlights from the study

• The communities with the most purchases by Federation members were Beachwood, Solon, Shaker Heights, Lyndhurst and Pepper Pike.
• University Heights, Cleveland Heights and South Euclid are the three communities where most first-time buyers purchased a home. Of the three, only Cleveland Heights had a net gain, meaning more people bought than sold.
• Solon and Beachwood had the largest net gains in ownership, meaning more people moved in than left the community.
• Federation families were more likely to stay in Cuyahoga County when they moved than were the general public. Only 9 percent of Jewish households that moved exited the county, compared to 40 percent of all households documented in other Center for Housing and Research studies.
• One-quarter of Federation families live in the traditional Heights communities: Shaker Heights, Cleveland Heights and South Euclid.

Methodology:

The study analyzed the residential locational choices between 1985 and 1991 of Jewish families in Greater Cleveland who are contained in the Federation's database. That database includes Federation donors, members of synagogues and other Jewish organizations and other individuals who have been identified as Jewish.

It contains approximately 21,000 households – about 2/3 of the area's Jewish population based on a 1996 Federation study which identified 33,710 Jewish households in Cuyahoga County and the edges of contiguous counties.

That information was compared with a database of all housing transactions in Greater Cleveland, which is developed and maintained by the Levin College.