The Lucas Metropolitan Housing board of commissioners has named Senghor Manns as the new president and CEO, effective August 12.
Manns previously served as the CEO of the Harrisburg Housing Authority in Pennsylvania and has successfully worked as an executive-level staffer for a combined total of 18 years with the HHA and the Indianapolis Housing Agency.
“Senghor is uniquely qualified to lead LMH to accomplish its goals and objectives based on his impeccable qualifications, experience and background,” said LMH Board Chair Alisha Gant. “We are confident he will provide our Lucas County communities with the highest level of service and guidance.”
Lucas Metropolitan Housing is responsible for a portfolio that houses over 17,000 people in Lucas County, including 2,633 public units and 4,657 housing choice vouchers. The agency provides a number of other programs to help residents improve their quality of life and hopefully become self-sufficient.
During Mann’s tenure at the Harrisburg Housing Authority, he secured numerous federal-level grants and designations that helped the organization rehabilitate hundreds of Harrisburg-area housing units.
Manns helped HHA earn a coveted Move-to-Work designation from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, one of only 29 such distinctions awarded nationally in 2022. Equally noteworthy, HHA was awarded a highly competitive HUD Choice Neighborhoods planning grant, which was one of only nine awarded in the United States in 2022.
“I am excited and look forward to enhancing the quality of life for Lucas County families and the individuals that LMH serves,” Manns said. “To be successful, I wholeheartedly believe that our efforts must go beyond constructing and rebuilding the ‘bricks and mortar’—we must pursue ways to create opportunities for families to thrive and improve.”
Manns received his Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from Indiana University’s Robert H. McKinney School of Law in 1995 and a bachelor’s degree from Indiana University in 1992. He also earned an Executive Director Education Program Certification from Rutgers University in 2010.
His appointment comes as leaders have unveiled an ambitious slate of construction projects—totaling more than $92 million over the next two years—in an effort to offer more affordable housing options to Lucas County families, low- and middle-wage-earning workers, people with disabilities, veterans and the elderly who are struggling to make ends meet in the face of rising rental home prices.
The development pipeline is highlighted in LMH’s “Strategic Action Blueprint: Building for the Future 20242028” that was introduced earlier this year. The five-year plan is designed to help address Toledo’s urgent and growing need to create more affordable housing opportunities.
The city-commissioned 10-year housing plan report from 2022 found there is a shortage of 12,705 units for people with extremely low incomes. Data from the city’s report shows the average Toledo household earns just $39,000—about 30 percent less than the state average and about 40 percent less than the national average. An estimated 25 percent of Toledoans live in poverty, roughly twice as high as both the state and national averages.
The problem is most severe for Toledoans earning the least. Approximately onethird of households (38,575) in Toledo are cost-burdened, spending at least 30 percent of their income on housing. Of those households, half of them (19,350) are considered “severely cost-burdened,” meaning they spend more than 50 percent of their income on housing.
Combined with nearly 25 percent of the population living in poverty, the demand for affordable housing in Toledo and Lucas County consistently outpaces the available supply. The result is lengthy LMH waiting lists and a significant percentage of households allocating an unreasonably high proportion of their income to meet rising housing costs.
“I truly believe that LMH’s strong reputation and compelling programming, combined with my experience and positive reputation within the affordable housing industry, will catalyze and usher in a new era of programming and progress for LMH,” Manns said.
Manns replaces former LMH President and CEO Joaquin Cintron Vega, who announced in February that he had accepted an offer to become the new CEO of the Housing Authority of the City and County of Denver.
