Growing, Together
Cincinnati’s history of growth has been anything but steady. In the late 1800s, we were the densest city in America; in the 1950s, we reached our peak population of almost half a million residents; by the turn of the millennia, we were bleeding residents to job loss and White flight; by 2004, we had the highest rate of population loss in the entire country. There were 500 abandoned buildings in Over-The-Rhine, alone. Fortunately, a combination of city leadership and grassroots community resistance refused to give up on Cincinnati’s future. And after a decade of dedicated work, in 2020, we officially ended our 70 years of population loss.
Estimates show ~4 people move to Cincinnati every day. This number will unquestionably increase with the impending mass climate migration to the Midwest, due to our relative safety from natural disasters. With population growth comes benefits – greater economic and social sustainability, job growth, neighborhood livability, cultural production, and increased diversity – but without systemic preparation and proper care, it can contribute to horrific cycles of displacement and segregation.
Our Biggest Concern: Housing
We currently lack the housing needed to cushion our population growth. There are just not enough safe, healthy places where people can reasonably afford to live. The facts are:
Racist housing and zoning policies have led to community displacement and consolidation of poverty that leaves neighborhoods vulnerable to further displacement as Cincinnati continues to develop its urban core. Misguided waves of single-family zoning expansion have culminated in it being illegal to build multi-family housing in ~70% of the city, constricting available land to build homes on.
Car-centered infrastructure (such as highways and surface parking lots) contributed to a massive loss in housing units from 1940-2000. Due to the construction of I-75 alone, we lost 10,000 homes, businesses, and places of worship in the West End.
Over 75% of homes within the City of Cincinnati are at least 40 years old, making them inaccessible for many, and susceptible to code enforcement, age-related damage, and expensive upkeep.
Between 2010 and 2017, Hamilton County lost a total of 3,134 units in duplexes, triplexes, and fourplexes). In 2018 alone, there were nearly 3,400 residential building code enforcement incidents within the City of Cincinnati, in addition to 74 incidents involving lead paint.
We give out building permits at a much lower rate than other cities. In the Columbus area, there were 12,052 new housing permits issued in 2020 – 40% more than the number of permits issued in the Cincinnati area. More than half of the permits issued in Columbus were for multifamily structures with five or more units.
In 2017, Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), a local community development organization, found that for every 100 Cincinnati residents making 30% or below Cincinnati’s median income, there are only 28 units of affordable housing available, leaving 40,000 people in the county without access to affordable housing.
After years of decline, rates of homelessness are starting to rise again. Rapidly.
If we hope to welcome new neighbors while nurturing current residents, we need to build and sustain more housing. Period.
What We’ve Done
We Funded Housing
In 2018, Cincinnati made a great first step in addressing our housing crisis by creating the Affordable Housing Trust Fund. But, as I frequently highlighted in my 2020 campaign for Council, it was consistently underfunded. During my time in office, the City of Cincinnati has gone through a drastic restructuring of how we approach financing affordable housing. Under my leadership on the Equitable Growth and Housing Committee, we are seeing funding buckets in the hundreds of millions of dollars committed to this issue.
Highlights:
We restructured the prioritization process for the “Fund of Funds” (shared fund administered by Cincinnati Development Fund and the City of Cincinnati created to incentivize housing production) and the City’s NOFA (Notice of funding Availability; funds directed by DCED to assist affordable housing) to focus on the biggest needs: mixed-income development, high-opportunity neighborhoods, 0-60% AMI developments.
We ended the Property Tax Rollback and coopted the additional revenue for affordable housing development, housing security, economic opportunity, tenant protections, code enforcement, low-moderate income homeowner assistance, neighborhood business district, city infrastructure, and improved city services.
We established, funded, coordinated, and hosted the City of Cincinnati's first-ever annual Housing Solutions Summit. The event sought to break up the silos we often work within by bringing together public servants, community leaders, housing and development experts, and neighborhood residents to participate in dynamic, productive, solution-oriented discussions.
We Made it Easier to Build Housing
Much of our housing supply issue is due to historical context, systemic issues, and bureaucratic barriers. You can push all the funding you want onto an issue, but without tackling the root causes, you're merely dressing a wound with a bandaid. My office has been laser-focused on the hard work of methodically dismantling our housing crisis.
Highlights:
We authored an Ordinance during my first month in Office that streamlines the process for Low- Income-Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) applications by allowing projects to bypass a bureaucratic Council approval process and enable them to receive automatic approval. Removing ineffective and costly obstacles to building low-income housing in Cincinnati incentivizes the production of homes for those who most need them.
We relentlessly advocated for the removal of archaic density restrictions to allow for smaller-footprint, more affordable multi-family construction.
We authorized the Dept. of Buildings and Inspections to expand the breadth of data they collect to more accurately identify vacant buildings, and also requested a robust report on the number and geographical distribution of housing units produced in Cincinnati in the last five years.
We led the radical restructuring of the City of Cincinnati’s residential tax abatement program; by keeping equity, desegregation, and accessibility at the forefront of this work, the changes made will sincerely change how the City of Cincinnati approaches neighborhood residential investment.
We authorized the construction of a permanent supportive housing facility in Over-The-Rhine (on Dunlap Street) that will house forty-four individuals experiencing homelessness.
We Advocated for those Being Impacted by Housing Crisis
Despite all the work we do, there are still residents who face housing instability in our city. Empowering them, nurturing their dignity, and responding to their needs is just as important as any other work on housing we do.
Highlights:
Supported the creation of a Guide to Tenants' Rights, Responsibilities, and Resources, a concise and accessible public document outlining tenant rights and resources, relevant Federal, State, or Local laws, and contact information for regional tenant resources or programs.
Assisted countless individual constituents with housing issues, whether they were facing eviction, dealing with a nuisance short-term rental properties, or experiencing a neglectful landlord.
Advocated for hiring additional City of Cincinnati legislators focused on litigating “Problem Properties” (rental properties wherein the owner/landlord refuses to meet safety and maintenance codes for extended periods, placing their tenants in unsafe living conditions and endangering their safety) & for more effective and accountable code enforcement by funding targeted legal action against institutional investors.
Trained the City of Cincinnati Office of Constituent Engagement to better direct residents to housing resources.
Work to be Done:
Moving forward, my office is focused on:
Land-use reform; primarily the Connected Communities work we’ve been doing on our Transit Corridors.
Working with Hamilton County’s Office of Re-Entry to provide housing for formerly incarcerated people.
Partnering with local organizations to look into creating Tax Abatements for Low-Income Residents, and reforming the way we administer Commercial Tax Abatements.
Improving the regional data collection on delinquent properties.
Finalizing a City of Cincinnati Tenant Bill of Rights.