Six years of planning turned into shovels in the ground Friday in downtown Toledo, where Cherry Street Mission and Lucas Metropolitan Housing broke ground on Mission Point, a $22 million apartment development that will create 65 permanent homes for people experiencing chronic homelessness. The Blade reported the groundbreaking Friday, describing a project six years in the making intended to provide housing and support services at the corner of Monroe and 14th Streets, next door to the mission’s Life Revitalization Center.
The four-story building will hold 65 one-bedroom apartments reserved for people who have experienced chronic homelessness, including individuals living with mental illness, according to the partners’ project plans. It is a different model from an emergency shelter bed: residents will hold leases, pay income-based rent supported by federal housing subsidies, and live in the building permanently, with help on site.
That structure comes from the partnership behind the project. Mission Point is being co-developed and co-owned by Cherry Street Mission and Lucas Housing Services Corporation, the nonprofit affiliate of Lucas Metropolitan Housing, and both organizations ground-lease land to the project, according to the Cherry Street Mission release announcing the Ohio Housing Finance Agency’s approval of the project’s financing in May 2025.
Under that plan, Lucas Metropolitan Housing will provide project-based rental assistance to support the building’s operations, while Cherry Street Mission provides wraparound services meant to help residents achieve housing stability and build a path to independence. Future tenants will be identified through coordinated entry, the Toledo area’s Continuum of Care system for matching people to available housing.
Cherry Street Mission has been building toward this step for nearly eight decades. The mission was founded in 1947 by Jessie and Bertha Fleck, and its Life Revitalization Center at 1501 Monroe Street now provides meals, career training and other assistance aimed at helping people find stable housing. Mission Point extends that work from the building next door into permanent apartments of its own.
"When our founders, Jesse and Bertha Fleck, established Cherry Street Mission in 1947, they envisioned a place where individuals could find shelter, nourishment, and compassion," Cherry Street Mission CEO Ann Ebbert said in the Cherry Street Mission release on the OHFA financing. "We are honored to take the next step — moving beyond temporary shelter to also provide permanent housing for those we serve."
Lucas Metropolitan Housing, established in 1933, brings the region’s largest housing operation to the partnership, with 2,633 public housing units and 4,657 housing choice vouchers serving roughly 17,500 people, according to the partners’ release. "Our partnership with Cherry St. Mission and the critical support and guidance from OHFA’s staff and leadership will lead our region to a resurgence and commitment to serving some of the most vulnerable citizens," LMH CEO Senghor Manns said in the same Cherry Street Mission release.
The money behind Mission Point has grown along with the plan. When OHFA approved the financing in May 2025, the partners projected a total development cost of about $20 million, with low-income housing tax credits providing roughly $15 million in equity — about 75 percent of the funding — alongside support from the Federal Home Loan Bank, the City of Toledo, LISC and Huntington Bank. Friday’s reporting put the project’s cost at $22 million, and state Rep. Michele Grim presented $1 million in state funding for the project at a ceremonial check event at Cherry Street Mission in October, according to M Living News. Toledo’s community institutions have been rallying around basic needs this fall — UToledo’s 22nd Veterans Breakfast returns to Savage Arena on Nov. 11, and federal investment is also flowing into the region, as Erie County lands two new Opportunity Zones as the Firelands gains five.
What we know — and what we’re still waiting on. We know the site, the developers, the 65-unit size, who the apartments are for, and how residents will be chosen and supported. We also know the project answers a sharp rise in Toledo’s unsheltered population, as Friday’s reporting on the groundbreaking noted. Still to come: a final reconciliation of the project’s total cost, construction phasing details, and exactly when lease-up through coordinated entry will begin.
Construction is now underway on the Monroe Street site. The partners expect Mission Point to open by late 2027, when the first residents — identified through the Continuum of Care’s coordinated entry — will move from homelessness into apartments of their own, with Cherry Street’s services next door and Lucas Metropolitan Housing’s rental assistance keeping the homes affordable.
Photo: MrJacon000, CC BY-SA