October 22, 2021 • 33 mins
Continuing our conversation with local housing experts: Hamilton County Community Development's Interim Director Emily Carnahan, Liz Blum with the Community Building Institute at Xavier University, and Kristen Baker with Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) get to the heart of the conversation on whether our neighbors can afford to stay in the communities where they live.
Recent studies have shown that Hamilton County currently lacks 40,000 units of affordable housing. Listen to what Hamilton County is doing about it.
To learn more about Hamilton County, Ohio, our services and job openings, visit hamiltoncountyohio.gov.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:11):
Welcome to heart and hustle inHamilton County, a podcast
entirely dedicated to the peopleand policies that form Hamilton
County government. I'm yourhost, Jeff saludo, county
administrator and HamiltonCounty, with me, as always is my
co host and communicationsmanager for the county Bridget
Doherty. Hello, hello. Andtoday, I want to welcome all of
(00:32):
you to part two in our two partseries on affordable housing in
Hamilton County. So if youjoined us last time, you'll
recall that we spent a lot ofour time talking in detail about
the problem of affordablehousing. And we were privileged
then as we are today, to havewith us Kristen Baker from Liske
(00:52):
Liz Blum from the communitybuilding Institute, and Emily
Carnahan, with our ownDepartment of Community
Development. In last time, wetalked about the affordable
housing gap in the community. Wetalked about housing
demographics, the out ofcontrol, housing pricing, cost
market, we talked about thenumber of cost burdened
(01:13):
homeowners, and we talked aboutthe importance of this issue to
every sector of our community.
From those transitioning out ofhomelessness, to those running
major businesses and needingplaces for their employees to
live, whether you're a seniorcitizen or a single parent,
whether you're a family of fourgraduating college students, or
someone struggling withaddiction and mental health
issues, you can't have a wellfunctioning community without
(01:36):
ensuring that all sectors of thepopulation have this boat most
basic need addressed. But inorder to have that stage setting
conversation, we basically hadto forcibly restrain Liz,
Kristin and Emily, because likeall good professionals in their
field, they don't want to justtalk about the problem. They
want to talk about solutions.
(01:57):
And fortunately, there areenough good things going on in
this area to warrant an entiresecond part to our series here.
So without further ado, Liz, I'mgoing to start with you. Because
last time you were reallypushing to make sure we didn't
just leave this all gloom anddoom, that there are things that
can be done. And there arethings that are being done to
address the problem ofaffordable housing in the
(02:18):
community. So let's just jump inwith both feet here. Why should
people be optimistic about thefuture of housing in Hamilton
County.
So I think that there are allkinds of really great models in
Hamilton County that havealready been developed that are
both producing more housing atevery price point and being
conscious of producing housingthat's affordable to people who
(02:39):
make less than $15 an hour as anexample. So a couple of things
that I would point to I'm goingto pick on Silverton to start at
47 is a new multifamily project.
It's not as new as it was when Istarted to talk about it
actually, it's about two yearsold now. And it's a whole new
kind of product in Silverton,it's a multifamily product. And
(02:59):
the neighbors like it. It'sproducing product for new
millennials who are moving intoSilverton for the first time.
And it's a different kind ofhousing. So part of this
conversation is about morehousing, but part of it is also
about different kinds ofhousing. We've all heard that
millennials are not buying homesas quickly as us Boomer types
(03:20):
did. That means they need adifferent kind of housing,
seniors would like to be agingin their communities, but maybe
not in their big house, becausethey don't want to take care of
it anymore. And so there'sanother place I'd like to point
to is the reserve itself Martin,which is a partnership between
Carlton North College Hill andcmha, there was a whole set of
(03:41):
pretty deteriorated singlefamily houses at in the part of
North College Hill, those thosedeteriorated obsolete buildings
were removed. And there's now anew senior project that
residents from North CollegeHill live in and they love. And
it also made a difference to thesingle family homes around it
because they now have a betterneighbor. There's great
(04:03):
examples. colerain Township isdoing some really interesting
things, very intentional thingsto both build new housing.
colerain is interesting becausethere's a very suburban part of
colerain Township and there's afairly urban sort of for
suburbs, part of colerainTownship in both kinds of
places. They're doing newproduct, and they're being
intentional about connecting anew generation of homeowners
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that might be black homeownerswith an older generation of
homeowners that might be whitehomeowners. So they're doing
both production and the sort ofcultural connectedness that
communities need. So that's justa few things I could go on. But
maybe I'll stop and and giveKristin a minute if she can.
Yeah, no, that's great. So rightout of the gate, a lot of good
(04:49):
stuff to be optimistic about andsome good things happening out
there. So Kristin, as Liz, turnthis over to you. Thoughts on
reason To be optimistic abouthousing and and feel free to
highlight the the work that youall have done at Liske. And in
terms of the housing or futurestudy and want to make sure that
(05:09):
folks out there listening, know,what that study is and how they
can go about accessing it.
Sure. Thanks, Jeff. You know, Ithink Liz is absolutely right,
with the specific examples ofsome changes we're seeing in the
housing landscape. I also feeloptimistic, despite, as you
said, some of the maybe therather Stark picture that the
(05:32):
data is currently painting interms of housing affordability
in our county that, you know,folks are really rallying around
this. You know, it takes itoften, for many years, housing
was thought of as particularlyaffordable housing somebody
else's problem, right, if it didnot directly impact you, you
know, it's just that's Oh,that's for folks that are, you
(05:54):
know, that are extremely poor,or it's somebody else's
challenge. And I think we'restarting to come to a place
where there's a recognitionthat, that that housing
challenge is something thatimpacts all of us, because the
business community understandsthat, you know, if they're the
workers that are starting out intheir careers, or in some of the
hard to fill, low, lower wagejobs, they can't, and even jobs
(06:18):
that are paying 40 or $50,000 ayear, those folks are not able
to find housing necessarily inthe community that they want to
live in right now. And thatcreates challenge for, for
employers. And I think that'sreally important. I think local
governments have reallyrecognized and acknowledged the
challenge and opportunity thatexists right now around housing,
(06:39):
I will specifically call outHamilton County, Hamilton County
government for really leadingthe way in terms of brokering
conversations, in terms ofsetting aside, you know,
significant pool of resourcesthrough the American rescue x
plan funding, which is a reallybig step for our community. So
long, we have not necessarilymade those investments a
(07:03):
priority. And so it's reallytime I think the time is now and
I think there's a lot of energyand excitement around that. And
I will say I do believe that isdue in part to the conversations
that we at Liske and live at CBIand our other key partners in
the housing space have beencalling forward. And we're
really you're hearing about thisat a much different volume than
(07:25):
we used to. And I think that'sreally caused for, for us to
acknowledge and say, you know,hey, we're starting to
understand the challenge and theissue and and the everyday
citizen is starting tounderstand and feeling that
impact. So what do we do aboutit next, and that's where the
solutions are really critical tothis effort.
Right. And some of thosesolutions, there's a broad range
of them. And Liz started theconversation out here today
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talking about some of thesolutions on the production side
of things. So building new unitsof affordable housing and doing
it in a way that not only meetsthe demand, but also meets the
need for the community to feellike this is a product that we
want in our in our community,and that we want to be a part of
them. We're starting to see moreand more integration of that
(08:11):
affordable housing into theplans of a lot of different
communities. In the county, asLiz mentioned, North College
Hill and Silverton in terms ofthe production side, we talked
last time about the gap 40,000units. When you think about the
production that's occurring inthe community, at a, at a high
(08:32):
level, how much more that needsto happen, or are we on? Are we
on a good pace to closing thatgap? Or how much more needs to
actually occur to start to makea noticeable dent in that 40,000
unit gap?
Well, the target Well,I'll go ahead, Kristen.
No, sorry. That's right, thetarget as Liz was saying, the
(08:55):
target that we set in housingour future, which is the
countywide housing strategy thatwas created by over 200 housing
experts, partners, and mostimportantly, people with lived
experience with housingchallenge. So folks who have not
maybe been able to find the kindof housing that meets their
needs and what that's like. Soin housing our future, we
(09:16):
identify three key areas aroundproduction, preserving existing
affordable housing, andproducing new and so in the
production space, we say, youknow, we need to actually bring
on about 2000 new unitsaffordable to households earning
(09:37):
60% of that area median income,which again is around that would
be around $35,000, for earnersmaking about $35,000 or less
than that over the next 10years. So that would give us
20,000 units by 2030. So that'sreally the pace that we need to
be moving at just in that oneincome, you know, target. We're
(09:58):
not even talking about In that2000 unit number, the market
rate or things in that in thatarea for people earning, you
know, 35, to $50,000. So just togive you an example there, so
that really requires quite abig, big jump in production. And
also, you know, the other thingthat would require is more, more
(10:20):
folks engaging in and working inthe housing trades. And that's
another solution that weidentify in housing our future.
So this is not just again, notjust about producing more
housing, but this is alsoworkforce development,
opportunity and demand and need,we need more people working in
all of the trades that supporthousing production and Housing
Preservation, because these arereally in demand services right
(10:44):
now. And that's part of thereason that we're not producing
enough units is that we justdon't really seem to have enough
folks into the workforce doingthings like plumbing, and
electrician, and, and carpenterand all of those really
important trades that pay areally good way they pay more
than many of them pay more thanthat. $50,000. Mark, we've been
talking so much about how do wereally bolster that also through
(11:05):
the implementation of creatingnew housing units.
So I want to follow up onsomething that Kristen said,
producing at a much higher ratethan we are right now new
housing is an economicdevelopment opportunity. It
means and the great thing thathappens when you produce more
housing, particularly inexisting communities is where
(11:26):
we're making better use ofobsolete real estate, you know,
obsolete, retail use, that's notcoming back, all kinds of vacant
schools, they can churches,these are the sites that we need
to be redeveloping. And whathappens is you get more housing,
you get, as Kristen says, tradesjobs, and you support business
districts that need more folkseating in the restaurants
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shopping in their stores. And soit has all kinds of positive
benefits to the communities thatare considering these kind of
projects, higher densityprojects along their business
corridors. Andon that note, so we have a lot
of first ring suburbancommunities in the county that
have, say stagnant or tiredbusiness districts. So similar
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to the way we started theconversation by talking about
some production projects thatare going on. Are there any
communities that jump out interms of green these doing a
good job fostering preservationof affordable housing, or
renovation of housing stock foraffordable housing, in these
areas around these fosteringsuburban business districts to
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help revitalize them, the oldeconomic development phrase that
retail follows rooftops, right,so you can't have a sustainable
healthy business core if youdon't have residents in a walk
relatively walkable community orneighborhood able to to
patronize those thosebusinesses, so any communities
or any projects here locally,you can think of on the
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preservation side, helping to tomove the needle in that regard.
You know, there's lots ofexisting housing in doubles, and
triples in for family units thatreally are getting some needed
and reinvestment. And that'sgreat housing, it exists already
in communities. It doesn't haveto require new zoning. And it's
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great for single folks, thereare lots of single single person
households in the county nowmuch more than we had in the
past, it's a good place forseniors to be. And those are
great kinds of opportunities forreinvestment all over the
county.
You meant you mentioned the thebuzz word zoning. So and I know
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this is Kristen, in your in yourhousing or future report, as
well as in subsequentconversations that we've had the
the issue of zoning has come uptime and again, is something
that really impacts everything,right? I mean, you may not be a
zoning expert, but I guaranteeyou zoning affects you where you
are and if you say well, no, itdoesn't because I don't have
(14:00):
zoning in my community. Well,that affects you maybe even
more, right. So how are we doinggenerally in Hamilton County, as
it relates to our zoning codesand our zoning practices? And is
there opportunity to improvethose to help with this
situation of affordable housing?
Absolutely, you know, this isnot the most you know, sort of
(14:23):
scintillating topic aroundhousing but it is absolutely one
of the most important componentsthat makes the ability for us to
do what Liz and I have beentalking to you about. Even more
possible. So you know, outsideof the center city of
Cincinnati, the vast majority ofHamilton County have our first
ring suburban jurisdictions andbeyond are zoned for single
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family housing. So only right sothat really limits the kind of
the creative options that andthe density and the opportunity
to to really help support folksto age in place in the community
that they live. In their wholelives are all the other, you
know, sort of priorities that weknow exist around housing, it
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makes it a lot harder to do thatif your zoning code does not, is
not modernized, and is notreally you know, allowing for
different kinds of types ofdevelopments. So, in a business
district, most business districtlikes to see, you know, retail,
or commercial space on the firstfloor, because that's the
easiest way to access and thenit's, it's nice to have, you
know, one or two stories abovewith maybe a few units of
(15:28):
housing or condominium orwhatever the model might be. And
if your community is zoned toallow for that, it makes that
kind of development much moredifficult. And also, communities
that are almost exclusivelysingle family often get very
nervous when you when adeveloper or, you know,
jurisdiction might say, Hey, wewant to create some new housing
types in our community, becausethere's a stigma attached to
(15:52):
density that, I think isunfortunate, because density
brings vibrancy, density bringspeople out onto the street, it
brings foot traffic, it brings asense of community. And I think
sometimes people equate densitywith, with some of the negative
stereotypes around affordablehousing. And so we have seen
unfortunately, in some suburbanjurisdictions, in particular,
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this real hesitant to, to toconsider changing the zoning
code because people feel it's aPandora's box, I would argue
it's a, it's a treasure chestand changing your zoning to
allow for more kinds and typesof housing is only going to
benefit your community. So wehave to get some positive
messaging out there about youknow, why modernizing zoning
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codes is so important. Thisreally is Liz's cup of tea more
than mine, but I've heard herspeak about it enough to know
how important this is. And I dowant to just mention also that
the county is looking at somesome opportunities to help
jurisdictions with withmodernizing their zoning code
through a model zoning code. Andthat's a way to really help help
(16:55):
ease the challenge that existsaround creating in particularly
new kinds of housing in placesthat are historically single
families.
That's exactly right. I mean,the model zoning code is going
to be a great support forcommunities who are looking to
include new planned unitdevelopment regulations, new
streetscape regulations, allthat. I also want to say to
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folks, changing zoning andcreating options in your zoning
code that allow for differentkinds of housing does not mean
does not mean that single familyresidential blocks all over
communities are going to change.
There are places that you cancertainly protect the character
of single family communities,and still in those same
communities provide new kinds ofhousing, along your business
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corridors, in close schools,closed churches, there's all
kinds of obsolete, land use allover the county, that could be
creatively used to create morehousing. That doesn't mean we
have to put a six storeybuilding and a block of single
family homes. So I want to makesure because I think people are
concerned about that. And that'sreally not what we're talking
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about here. We're talking aboutmaking stronger business
districts that include morehousing and different kinds of
housing, that are on bus linesthat we now have passed a
transportation levy so that wetalk about walkable communities,
what we're talking about isliving close enough to the
grocery store, the restaurant,the coffee shop, the brewery, so
that you can get there from yourfront door, or that you could
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get on the bus from your frontdoor. That's really what we're
talking about creating more ofthat kind of housing, and
supporting blocks of singlefamily housing along the way. So
it does all of those thingsabsolutely in and I want to, I'm
going to refrain from callingher a zoning administrator down
here to take issue withKristen's characterization of
zoning as a not a scintillatingsubject. But we'll we'll address
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that with our zoning departmentlater, Kristen. But as we're
talking about, as we talk aboutour different factors that play
into affordable housing, I thinkLiz Last time, we were together,
you talked about the issue ofcode enforcement. And can you
help us with that concept as itrelates to affordable housing,
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because I would imagine there'speople out there that might see
it as a bit of a double edgedsword. In terms of code
enforcement applied correctly,or code enforcement applied in a
way that may actually hurt theproblem. And make it so that
people can't stay in their home.
So talk about affordable or talkabout code enforcement as
applied in a way that makes it acritical component and helpful
(19:31):
to the conversation ofaffordable housing.
So I'm going to take everybodyto those blocks of single family
housing all over the community.
Communities are strong whenthose blocks look lovely, and
when people are taking care oftheir homes, that you're right.
It can be a double edged sword,and I absolutely understand why
people are concerned, I think,to have an aggressive code
enforcement campaign. You'vealso got to couple that with
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homeowner supports and loan andgrant programs to homeowners so
that they can stay in theirhomes and take care of them
appropriately and not lose theirhouse not lose the wealth that
they've generated in theirhouse. So it's got to be code
enforcement along with supportsfor homeowners who can't afford
to maintain their homes. Thereis not a community in Hamilton
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County that doesn't want tosupport their senior homeowners
and make sure that people canage in place in ways that make
them happy and keep theirhousing up. Actually, Silverton
is getting ready to pilot areally interesting program where
they're going to make repairs tohomes that need to have repairs
made to them, and then put alien on taxes so that so that
existing owners can take care oftheir property can live in their
(20:37):
house can maintain wealth, andthen when the home is sold, then
the the funds come back to thecommunity, which means they will
revolve and support morehomeowners. So I think that's
going to be a really interestingpilot that came out of the sort
of first housing plans. So codeenforcement has to be paired
with the loan and grant programso that people can maintain
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their housing. We also want tomake sure that commercial owners
of reeds and other large ownersare following the same standards
that everybody else on the blockis following. There are it there
are way more rentals singlefamily homes now than there ever
have been before. And it'sreally important to make sure
that often those are out of townbuyers that are not here that
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don't have property maintenancepeople here in town, we need to
make sure that those folks areholding are being held
accountable to the same standardthat everybody else is,
unless you use the use theacronym read. Let's let's clear
that up. So we can probably do awhole entire show on it. But if
you could,for today, what I'll say is it's
a real estate investment trust,that's what a read is they are
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big companies that own singlefamily homes and maintain them
as rental property. And thesefolks have spent a lot of money
in Hamilton County, a lot of thestuff that was foreclosed on in
the 2008. And nine recession hasnow been bought by Reid's real
estate investment trusts who aremaintaining hundreds of single
(22:08):
family homes in the county asrentals.
And so as we start to wrap upour time together today, and
before I turn it over to Emily,because I really want to hear
about some of the specificthings that Hamilton County is
doing to promote affordablehousing. One last topic, I know
the housing, our future studywas broken down into several
(22:31):
recommendations, and one ofthose recommendations dealt
specifically with the issue ofmoney and financing. Now, again,
we could do multiple shows onjust the issue of affordable
housing finance. So withoutgoing into excruciating detail,
what would be important for theaverage listener to take away in
(22:51):
terms of the importance of moneyand financing, to affordable
housing to the affordablehousing conversation in the
county.
So, you know, I'm not going tosugarcoat this this is housing
is an expensive endeavor,there's just no way around it
right? It's it's typically ahomeowner, it's your it's your
largest asset, it's your toolfor wealth creation, it's where
(23:15):
most of your investment is isplace. So of course it makes
sense then that we cannot solvethis really significant
challenge and gap that we havein our community without putting
significant resources towardsthat. Now, that is also not to
say that all of those resourceshave to come from public
sources. You know, I think thatthat government and public
(23:36):
sector has an obligation to besort of the first investors in
to show that this is importantright to show that we care, we
want to we know this is going tobenefit our economy by making
this investment in housing. Butthere are lots of private and
other you know, types ofresources that could come in
alongside. It does require youknow, if just to give a quick
(23:59):
simple example, if you cancharge if you're if your tenant
is paying $300 a month cash andrent and then you're receiving
you know, perhaps they'rethey're getting an income based
section eight voucher, they haveto, you have to pay your
mortgage, you have to pay forthe upkeep of the property, if
(24:19):
you're the property are used topay the taxes, all these things,
typically the rent you're takingin is not enough to cover the
cost of maintaining owning thefacility. So that's where we
need some support some tools andpatient money that's often comes
in the form of permanentsubsidies, we would talk about
it but money that just sits inthe project alongside financing
tools that can be morereasonably priced. So they're
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not paying a huge amount ofinterest and that are flexible
to allow for developers andnonprofits and other partners
who want to create particularlytheir you know, low to moderate
income housing. These are toolsthat we need in our toolkit, so
the idea of a trust fund isn'tone is one concept the city of
Cincinnati has an AffordableHousing Trust Fund with some
(25:04):
funds in it that has yet to bemechanized. I know Hamilton
County is also looking at thiskind of tool as a way to, to be
that sort of patient money thatsits in housing. Over time, we
also really need to look at someother kind of wonky financing
tools, but basically just moneythat can again, be flexible and
(25:24):
a little more patient. We alsowant to help, you know, one of
the things that so 2.2 finalpoints for me one, we've talked
a lot about, as Liz just touchedon sort of the role of investors
and companies in our housingmarket right now and
institutional buyers that arepurchasing, particularly single
family properties and rentingthem out because it's profitable
(25:46):
for them to do that. And it's away to, you know, to support
their operation. And we wouldlike to figure out some
interesting tools where, youknow, if we see a portfolio of
houses going up for sale, thatthere's a way for us to get
those under positive localownership and control very
quickly versus those going outto the market and having get
someone from out of town buyingthose homes, that takes a pretty
(26:08):
coordinated effort and a lot offlexible capital to be able to
do that. The other point isaround how do we support
existing homeowners,particularly legacy homeowners,
folks that are on a limitedincome with those really much
needed home repairs, you know,so much of our county housing
stock has, you know, was builtafter post World War Two, and it
wasn't built the same way asother housing in the center city
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is some of the stuff from the1800s that you know, solid as a
rock, he's a lot of work, butit's a different quality. So
there are needs in our communityfor homeowners to be able to
access low or 0% interest loanproducts to help be able to make
those repairs and stay in theirhomes.
You know, one of the otherfunding sources, I think that's
new, and it's because people aretalking about this issue, I'm
(26:54):
going to give a shout out tosome of our philanthropic
partners, Greater Cincinnatifoundation is all in on this
topic. And they have made somereally great investments and
continue to do that CDF thesame. There are local banks who
are paying attention and realizethat they need to both change
their products and makephilanthropic investments at the
same time. So I think thisconversation has brought lots of
(27:16):
new partners to the table, manyof whom are putting their money
where their mouth is. And Ithink that's a great
and good segue into Emily.
Because not five years or soago, the Hamilton County was a
was not really visible in thisconversation. It's really just
been over the past five years,through our community
development office that we havestarted becoming much more
(27:38):
involved in the issue ofaffordable housing. So Emily,
talk a little bit about some ofthe programs that Hamilton
County is doing to help move theneedle on this issue.
Sure, thanks, Jeff. Um, so the,the biggest way that I'm
community development, andHamilton County is making an
impact is through our homedollars. Our home investment
(28:00):
partnership is a HUD grant. Andsince 2016, coupled with some
some general fund dollars fromlast year, we funded over 600
units. And, you know, like yousaid before, 2016. I don't I
don't know that we've fundedany, as much less so. So we've
(28:22):
really, we really dove right in,we've created a lot of
development partners, we'vefostered a lot of good
relationships that we can keepmoving forward to just continue
developing new construction.
And, you know, we also fundrehab of some housing,
affordable housing. So as youmentioned, preservation is very
important. So we've, we've beendoing some of that as well. So
(28:45):
we also have funded a couple ofsort of pilot downpayment
assistance programs foraffordable housing for qualified
homeowners. So those have gottenoff the ground. And we have a
couple of new partners who areinterested in as Liz said,
they've they've become a part ofthis conversation and they're
(29:05):
and they're looking to partnerwith us in the future on that.
We do a lot of other thingshousing adjacent. So especially
like home improvement repairprograms, as Liz mentioned, we
do those on the small scale andcould definitely do do more in
that arena as well. But those,those home dollars in that
affordable housing constructionis really where we've where
we've been making a bigdifference lately.
(29:28):
And I think this past year, ifI'm not mistaken, Emily, we saw
a huge increase in the cost ofconstruction, which, for a while
was actually stagnating, some ofthese affordable housing
projects that were going on inthe county. And I think at the
time community development andyourself stepped in with a
(29:49):
recommendation to use a milliondollars of general fund dollars
that had been allocated foraffordable housing purposes to
help get those projects startingagain Because absent a boost,
they were going to likely lapse,how many? Can you refresh my
memory and tell our listenershow many units we wound up
funding through that project?
(30:10):
Yeah. So this just a few monthsago, it's about 110, roughly,
units that we funded that weredue to, you know, supply chain
issues, due to the pandemicother issues, we're not going to
be able to fill that gap so thatthat funding definitely helped
(30:31):
all those projects, and thoseunits move forward. So
what are the other things thatthe county is partnering on?
That's really important, that'shousing adjacent is
infrastructure support, RoseWater sewer infrastructure,
though, that's what you need tobuild a house. And the county
has been funding those kinds ofprojects in in ways that are
very helpful to localjurisdictions. I'm thinking of
(30:54):
Addison, and now they have asite, that's probably a great
site for 40 or 50 new units thathave great river view, that need
a new road and some new waterinfrastructure before they can
move forward. So there are thosekind of sites and the county is
playing a great role supportingcommunities in that area as
well.
I remember you mentioning thatparticular project and one of
(31:16):
our past public meetings, Liz,and I think that now bodes for
probably an offlineconversation, because it seems
like that's the exact type ofproject that could be done in an
area of the county that needsthis type of housing in a way
that could also be morebeneficial as well. So
Excellent. Well, Liz, Emily, andKristin, I just want to thank
(31:36):
you so much for thisconversation over the past
couple of weeks. Again, I thinkif we've said anything, it's
this is an issue that impactsevery resident of Hamilton
County no matter what. What ifno matter what economic
classification, you findyourself in no matter what
segment of society you findyourself in affordable housing
is something that means somemight mean a little bit
(31:59):
something different to everyone,but we all every every person
needs a place that they can callhome in a manner that they can
afford it. And until you addressthat most underlying need. It's
hard to move forward with otherthings in the community. So I
want to thank the three of youfor all of your efforts in this
in this area. Thank you for youryour work on on this on this
issue. And I want to thank allof you listening for listening
(32:23):
to what I believe is Episode 11.
Right, Bridget,of what Episode 11 part two,
part two of heart and hustle inHamilton County, and just want
to remind you to subscribe onApple podcast, Spotify and other
providers. You can also findthis podcast on our website,
Hamilton County ohio.gov and onthe county administrator's page.
(32:44):
So on behalf of our guests onbehalf of my co host Bridget
Doherty. I'm Jeff Alito, we'llsee you next time on heart and
hustle in Hamilton County.
Welcome to heart and hustle inHamilton County, a podcast
entirely dedicated to the peopleand policies that form Hamilton
County government. I'm yourhost, Jeff saludo, county
administrator and HamiltonCounty, with me, as always is my
co host and communicationsmanager for the county Bridget
Doherty. Hello, hello. Andtoday, I want to welcome all of
(00:32):
you to part two in our two partseries on affordable housing in
Hamilton County. So if youjoined us last time, you'll
recall that we spent a lot ofour time talking in detail about
the problem of affordablehousing. And we were privileged
then as we are today, to havewith us Kristen Baker from Liske
(00:52):
Liz Blum from the communitybuilding Institute, and Emily
Carnahan, with our ownDepartment of Community
Development. In last time, wetalked about the affordable
housing gap in the community. Wetalked about housing
demographics, the out ofcontrol, housing pricing, cost
market, we talked about thenumber of cost burdened
(01:13):
homeowners, and we talked aboutthe importance of this issue to
every sector of our community.
From those transitioning out ofhomelessness, to those running
major businesses and needingplaces for their employees to
live, whether you're a seniorcitizen or a single parent,
whether you're a family of fourgraduating college students, or
someone struggling withaddiction and mental health
issues, you can't have a wellfunctioning community without
(01:36):
ensuring that all sectors of thepopulation have this boat most
basic need addressed. But inorder to have that stage setting
conversation, we basically hadto forcibly restrain Liz,
Kristin and Emily, because likeall good professionals in their
field, they don't want to justtalk about the problem. They
want to talk about solutions.
(01:57):
And fortunately, there areenough good things going on in
this area to warrant an entiresecond part to our series here.
So without further ado, Liz, I'mgoing to start with you. Because
last time you were reallypushing to make sure we didn't
just leave this all gloom anddoom, that there are things that
can be done. And there arethings that are being done to
address the problem ofaffordable housing in the
(02:18):
community. So let's just jump inwith both feet here. Why should
people be optimistic about thefuture of housing in Hamilton
County.
So I think that there are allkinds of really great models in
Hamilton County that havealready been developed that are
both producing more housing atevery price point and being
conscious of producing housingthat's affordable to people who
(02:39):
make less than $15 an hour as anexample. So a couple of things
that I would point to I'm goingto pick on Silverton to start at
47 is a new multifamily project.
It's not as new as it was when Istarted to talk about it
actually, it's about two yearsold now. And it's a whole new
kind of product in Silverton,it's a multifamily product. And
(02:59):
the neighbors like it. It'sproducing product for new
millennials who are moving intoSilverton for the first time.
And it's a different kind ofhousing. So part of this
conversation is about morehousing, but part of it is also
about different kinds ofhousing. We've all heard that
millennials are not buying homesas quickly as us Boomer types
(03:20):
did. That means they need adifferent kind of housing,
seniors would like to be agingin their communities, but maybe
not in their big house, becausethey don't want to take care of
it anymore. And so there'sanother place I'd like to point
to is the reserve itself Martin,which is a partnership between
Carlton North College Hill andcmha, there was a whole set of
(03:41):
pretty deteriorated singlefamily houses at in the part of
North College Hill, those thosedeteriorated obsolete buildings
were removed. And there's now anew senior project that
residents from North CollegeHill live in and they love. And
it also made a difference to thesingle family homes around it
because they now have a betterneighbor. There's great
(04:03):
examples. colerain Township isdoing some really interesting
things, very intentional thingsto both build new housing.
colerain is interesting becausethere's a very suburban part of
colerain Township and there's afairly urban sort of for
suburbs, part of colerainTownship in both kinds of
places. They're doing newproduct, and they're being
intentional about connecting anew generation of homeowners
(04:26):
that might be black homeownerswith an older generation of
homeowners that might be whitehomeowners. So they're doing
both production and the sort ofcultural connectedness that
communities need. So that's justa few things I could go on. But
maybe I'll stop and and giveKristin a minute if she can.
Yeah, no, that's great. So rightout of the gate, a lot of good
(04:49):
stuff to be optimistic about andsome good things happening out
there. So Kristin, as Liz, turnthis over to you. Thoughts on
reason To be optimistic abouthousing and and feel free to
highlight the the work that youall have done at Liske. And in
terms of the housing or futurestudy and want to make sure that
(05:09):
folks out there listening, know,what that study is and how they
can go about accessing it.
Sure. Thanks, Jeff. You know, Ithink Liz is absolutely right,
with the specific examples ofsome changes we're seeing in the
housing landscape. I also feeloptimistic, despite, as you
said, some of the maybe therather Stark picture that the
(05:32):
data is currently painting interms of housing affordability
in our county that, you know,folks are really rallying around
this. You know, it takes itoften, for many years, housing
was thought of as particularlyaffordable housing somebody
else's problem, right, if it didnot directly impact you, you
know, it's just that's Oh,that's for folks that are, you
(05:54):
know, that are extremely poor,or it's somebody else's
challenge. And I think we'restarting to come to a place
where there's a recognitionthat, that that housing
challenge is something thatimpacts all of us, because the
business community understandsthat, you know, if they're the
workers that are starting out intheir careers, or in some of the
hard to fill, low, lower wagejobs, they can't, and even jobs
(06:18):
that are paying 40 or $50,000 ayear, those folks are not able
to find housing necessarily inthe community that they want to
live in right now. And thatcreates challenge for, for
employers. And I think that'sreally important. I think local
governments have reallyrecognized and acknowledged the
challenge and opportunity thatexists right now around housing,
(06:39):
I will specifically call outHamilton County, Hamilton County
government for really leadingthe way in terms of brokering
conversations, in terms ofsetting aside, you know,
significant pool of resourcesthrough the American rescue x
plan funding, which is a reallybig step for our community. So
long, we have not necessarilymade those investments a
(07:03):
priority. And so it's reallytime I think the time is now and
I think there's a lot of energyand excitement around that. And
I will say I do believe that isdue in part to the conversations
that we at Liske and live at CBIand our other key partners in
the housing space have beencalling forward. And we're
really you're hearing about thisat a much different volume than
(07:25):
we used to. And I think that'sreally caused for, for us to
acknowledge and say, you know,hey, we're starting to
understand the challenge and theissue and and the everyday
citizen is starting tounderstand and feeling that
impact. So what do we do aboutit next, and that's where the
solutions are really critical tothis effort.
Right. And some of thosesolutions, there's a broad range
of them. And Liz started theconversation out here today
(07:49):
talking about some of thesolutions on the production side
of things. So building new unitsof affordable housing and doing
it in a way that not only meetsthe demand, but also meets the
need for the community to feellike this is a product that we
want in our in our community,and that we want to be a part of
them. We're starting to see moreand more integration of that
(08:11):
affordable housing into theplans of a lot of different
communities. In the county, asLiz mentioned, North College
Hill and Silverton in terms ofthe production side, we talked
last time about the gap 40,000units. When you think about the
production that's occurring inthe community, at a, at a high
(08:32):
level, how much more that needsto happen, or are we on? Are we
on a good pace to closing thatgap? Or how much more needs to
actually occur to start to makea noticeable dent in that 40,000
unit gap?
Well, the target Well,I'll go ahead, Kristen.
No, sorry. That's right, thetarget as Liz was saying, the
(08:55):
target that we set in housingour future, which is the
countywide housing strategy thatwas created by over 200 housing
experts, partners, and mostimportantly, people with lived
experience with housingchallenge. So folks who have not
maybe been able to find the kindof housing that meets their
needs and what that's like. Soin housing our future, we
(09:16):
identify three key areas aroundproduction, preserving existing
affordable housing, andproducing new and so in the
production space, we say, youknow, we need to actually bring
on about 2000 new unitsaffordable to households earning
(09:37):
60% of that area median income,which again is around that would
be around $35,000, for earnersmaking about $35,000 or less
than that over the next 10years. So that would give us
20,000 units by 2030. So that'sreally the pace that we need to
be moving at just in that oneincome, you know, target. We're
(09:58):
not even talking about In that2000 unit number, the market
rate or things in that in thatarea for people earning, you
know, 35, to $50,000. So just togive you an example there, so
that really requires quite abig, big jump in production. And
also, you know, the other thingthat would require is more, more
(10:20):
folks engaging in and working inthe housing trades. And that's
another solution that weidentify in housing our future.
So this is not just again, notjust about producing more
housing, but this is alsoworkforce development,
opportunity and demand and need,we need more people working in
all of the trades that supporthousing production and Housing
Preservation, because these arereally in demand services right
(10:44):
now. And that's part of thereason that we're not producing
enough units is that we justdon't really seem to have enough
folks into the workforce doingthings like plumbing, and
electrician, and, and carpenterand all of those really
important trades that pay areally good way they pay more
than many of them pay more thanthat. $50,000. Mark, we've been
talking so much about how do wereally bolster that also through
(11:05):
the implementation of creatingnew housing units.
So I want to follow up onsomething that Kristen said,
producing at a much higher ratethan we are right now new
housing is an economicdevelopment opportunity. It
means and the great thing thathappens when you produce more
housing, particularly inexisting communities is where
(11:26):
we're making better use ofobsolete real estate, you know,
obsolete, retail use, that's notcoming back, all kinds of vacant
schools, they can churches,these are the sites that we need
to be redeveloping. And whathappens is you get more housing,
you get, as Kristen says, tradesjobs, and you support business
districts that need more folkseating in the restaurants
(11:49):
shopping in their stores. And soit has all kinds of positive
benefits to the communities thatare considering these kind of
projects, higher densityprojects along their business
corridors. Andon that note, so we have a lot
of first ring suburbancommunities in the county that
have, say stagnant or tiredbusiness districts. So similar
(12:11):
to the way we started theconversation by talking about
some production projects thatare going on. Are there any
communities that jump out interms of green these doing a
good job fostering preservationof affordable housing, or
renovation of housing stock foraffordable housing, in these
areas around these fosteringsuburban business districts to
(12:35):
help revitalize them, the oldeconomic development phrase that
retail follows rooftops, right,so you can't have a sustainable
healthy business core if youdon't have residents in a walk
relatively walkable community orneighborhood able to to
patronize those thosebusinesses, so any communities
or any projects here locally,you can think of on the
(12:56):
preservation side, helping to tomove the needle in that regard.
You know, there's lots ofexisting housing in doubles, and
triples in for family units thatreally are getting some needed
and reinvestment. And that'sgreat housing, it exists already
in communities. It doesn't haveto require new zoning. And it's
(13:19):
great for single folks, thereare lots of single single person
households in the county nowmuch more than we had in the
past, it's a good place forseniors to be. And those are
great kinds of opportunities forreinvestment all over the
county.
You meant you mentioned the thebuzz word zoning. So and I know
(13:40):
this is Kristen, in your in yourhousing or future report, as
well as in subsequentconversations that we've had the
the issue of zoning has come uptime and again, is something
that really impacts everything,right? I mean, you may not be a
zoning expert, but I guaranteeyou zoning affects you where you
are and if you say well, no, itdoesn't because I don't have
(14:00):
zoning in my community. Well,that affects you maybe even
more, right. So how are we doinggenerally in Hamilton County, as
it relates to our zoning codesand our zoning practices? And is
there opportunity to improvethose to help with this
situation of affordable housing?
Absolutely, you know, this isnot the most you know, sort of
(14:23):
scintillating topic aroundhousing but it is absolutely one
of the most important componentsthat makes the ability for us to
do what Liz and I have beentalking to you about. Even more
possible. So you know, outsideof the center city of
Cincinnati, the vast majority ofHamilton County have our first
ring suburban jurisdictions andbeyond are zoned for single
(14:45):
family housing. So only right sothat really limits the kind of
the creative options that andthe density and the opportunity
to to really help support folksto age in place in the community
that they live. In their wholelives are all the other, you
know, sort of priorities that weknow exist around housing, it
(15:05):
makes it a lot harder to do thatif your zoning code does not, is
not modernized, and is notreally you know, allowing for
different kinds of types ofdevelopments. So, in a business
district, most business districtlikes to see, you know, retail,
or commercial space on the firstfloor, because that's the
easiest way to access and thenit's, it's nice to have, you
know, one or two stories abovewith maybe a few units of
(15:28):
housing or condominium orwhatever the model might be. And
if your community is zoned toallow for that, it makes that
kind of development much moredifficult. And also, communities
that are almost exclusivelysingle family often get very
nervous when you when adeveloper or, you know,
jurisdiction might say, Hey, wewant to create some new housing
types in our community, becausethere's a stigma attached to
(15:52):
density that, I think isunfortunate, because density
brings vibrancy, density bringspeople out onto the street, it
brings foot traffic, it brings asense of community. And I think
sometimes people equate densitywith, with some of the negative
stereotypes around affordablehousing. And so we have seen
unfortunately, in some suburbanjurisdictions, in particular,
(16:13):
this real hesitant to, to toconsider changing the zoning
code because people feel it's aPandora's box, I would argue
it's a, it's a treasure chestand changing your zoning to
allow for more kinds and typesof housing is only going to
benefit your community. So wehave to get some positive
messaging out there about youknow, why modernizing zoning
(16:34):
codes is so important. Thisreally is Liz's cup of tea more
than mine, but I've heard herspeak about it enough to know
how important this is. And I dowant to just mention also that
the county is looking at somesome opportunities to help
jurisdictions with withmodernizing their zoning code
through a model zoning code. Andthat's a way to really help help
(16:55):
ease the challenge that existsaround creating in particularly
new kinds of housing in placesthat are historically single
families.
That's exactly right. I mean,the model zoning code is going
to be a great support forcommunities who are looking to
include new planned unitdevelopment regulations, new
streetscape regulations, allthat. I also want to say to
(17:16):
folks, changing zoning andcreating options in your zoning
code that allow for differentkinds of housing does not mean
does not mean that single familyresidential blocks all over
communities are going to change.
There are places that you cancertainly protect the character
of single family communities,and still in those same
communities provide new kinds ofhousing, along your business
(17:38):
corridors, in close schools,closed churches, there's all
kinds of obsolete, land use allover the county, that could be
creatively used to create morehousing. That doesn't mean we
have to put a six storeybuilding and a block of single
family homes. So I want to makesure because I think people are
concerned about that. And that'sreally not what we're talking
(17:59):
about here. We're talking aboutmaking stronger business
districts that include morehousing and different kinds of
housing, that are on bus linesthat we now have passed a
transportation levy so that wetalk about walkable communities,
what we're talking about isliving close enough to the
grocery store, the restaurant,the coffee shop, the brewery, so
that you can get there from yourfront door, or that you could
(18:20):
get on the bus from your frontdoor. That's really what we're
talking about creating more ofthat kind of housing, and
supporting blocks of singlefamily housing along the way. So
it does all of those thingsabsolutely in and I want to, I'm
going to refrain from callingher a zoning administrator down
here to take issue withKristen's characterization of
zoning as a not a scintillatingsubject. But we'll we'll address
(18:42):
that with our zoning departmentlater, Kristen. But as we're
talking about, as we talk aboutour different factors that play
into affordable housing, I thinkLiz Last time, we were together,
you talked about the issue ofcode enforcement. And can you
help us with that concept as itrelates to affordable housing,
(19:06):
because I would imagine there'speople out there that might see
it as a bit of a double edgedsword. In terms of code
enforcement applied correctly,or code enforcement applied in a
way that may actually hurt theproblem. And make it so that
people can't stay in their home.
So talk about affordable or talkabout code enforcement as
applied in a way that makes it acritical component and helpful
(19:31):
to the conversation ofaffordable housing.
So I'm going to take everybodyto those blocks of single family
housing all over the community.
Communities are strong whenthose blocks look lovely, and
when people are taking care oftheir homes, that you're right.
It can be a double edged sword,and I absolutely understand why
people are concerned, I think,to have an aggressive code
enforcement campaign. You'vealso got to couple that with
(19:51):
homeowner supports and loan andgrant programs to homeowners so
that they can stay in theirhomes and take care of them
appropriately and not lose theirhouse not lose the wealth that
they've generated in theirhouse. So it's got to be code
enforcement along with supportsfor homeowners who can't afford
to maintain their homes. Thereis not a community in Hamilton
(20:13):
County that doesn't want tosupport their senior homeowners
and make sure that people canage in place in ways that make
them happy and keep theirhousing up. Actually, Silverton
is getting ready to pilot areally interesting program where
they're going to make repairs tohomes that need to have repairs
made to them, and then put alien on taxes so that so that
existing owners can take care oftheir property can live in their
(20:37):
house can maintain wealth, andthen when the home is sold, then
the the funds come back to thecommunity, which means they will
revolve and support morehomeowners. So I think that's
going to be a really interestingpilot that came out of the sort
of first housing plans. So codeenforcement has to be paired
with the loan and grant programso that people can maintain
(20:59):
their housing. We also want tomake sure that commercial owners
of reeds and other large ownersare following the same standards
that everybody else on the blockis following. There are it there
are way more rentals singlefamily homes now than there ever
have been before. And it'sreally important to make sure
that often those are out of townbuyers that are not here that
(21:22):
don't have property maintenancepeople here in town, we need to
make sure that those folks areholding are being held
accountable to the same standardthat everybody else is,
unless you use the use theacronym read. Let's let's clear
that up. So we can probably do awhole entire show on it. But if
you could,for today, what I'll say is it's
a real estate investment trust,that's what a read is they are
(21:46):
big companies that own singlefamily homes and maintain them
as rental property. And thesefolks have spent a lot of money
in Hamilton County, a lot of thestuff that was foreclosed on in
the 2008. And nine recession hasnow been bought by Reid's real
estate investment trusts who aremaintaining hundreds of single
(22:08):
family homes in the county asrentals.
And so as we start to wrap upour time together today, and
before I turn it over to Emily,because I really want to hear
about some of the specificthings that Hamilton County is
doing to promote affordablehousing. One last topic, I know
the housing, our future studywas broken down into several
(22:31):
recommendations, and one ofthose recommendations dealt
specifically with the issue ofmoney and financing. Now, again,
we could do multiple shows onjust the issue of affordable
housing finance. So withoutgoing into excruciating detail,
what would be important for theaverage listener to take away in
(22:51):
terms of the importance of moneyand financing, to affordable
housing to the affordablehousing conversation in the
county.
So, you know, I'm not going tosugarcoat this this is housing
is an expensive endeavor,there's just no way around it
right? It's it's typically ahomeowner, it's your it's your
largest asset, it's your toolfor wealth creation, it's where
(23:15):
most of your investment is isplace. So of course it makes
sense then that we cannot solvethis really significant
challenge and gap that we havein our community without putting
significant resources towardsthat. Now, that is also not to
say that all of those resourceshave to come from public
sources. You know, I think thatthat government and public
(23:36):
sector has an obligation to besort of the first investors in
to show that this is importantright to show that we care, we
want to we know this is going tobenefit our economy by making
this investment in housing. Butthere are lots of private and
other you know, types ofresources that could come in
alongside. It does require youknow, if just to give a quick
(23:59):
simple example, if you cancharge if you're if your tenant
is paying $300 a month cash andrent and then you're receiving
you know, perhaps they'rethey're getting an income based
section eight voucher, they haveto, you have to pay your
mortgage, you have to pay forthe upkeep of the property, if
(24:19):
you're the property are used topay the taxes, all these things,
typically the rent you're takingin is not enough to cover the
cost of maintaining owning thefacility. So that's where we
need some support some tools andpatient money that's often comes
in the form of permanentsubsidies, we would talk about
it but money that just sits inthe project alongside financing
tools that can be morereasonably priced. So they're
(24:43):
not paying a huge amount ofinterest and that are flexible
to allow for developers andnonprofits and other partners
who want to create particularlytheir you know, low to moderate
income housing. These are toolsthat we need in our toolkit, so
the idea of a trust fund isn'tone is one concept the city of
Cincinnati has an AffordableHousing Trust Fund with some
(25:04):
funds in it that has yet to bemechanized. I know Hamilton
County is also looking at thiskind of tool as a way to, to be
that sort of patient money thatsits in housing. Over time, we
also really need to look at someother kind of wonky financing
tools, but basically just moneythat can again, be flexible and
(25:24):
a little more patient. We alsowant to help, you know, one of
the things that so 2.2 finalpoints for me one, we've talked
a lot about, as Liz just touchedon sort of the role of investors
and companies in our housingmarket right now and
institutional buyers that arepurchasing, particularly single
family properties and rentingthem out because it's profitable
(25:46):
for them to do that. And it's away to, you know, to support
their operation. And we wouldlike to figure out some
interesting tools where, youknow, if we see a portfolio of
houses going up for sale, thatthere's a way for us to get
those under positive localownership and control very
quickly versus those going outto the market and having get
someone from out of town buyingthose homes, that takes a pretty
(26:08):
coordinated effort and a lot offlexible capital to be able to
do that. The other point isaround how do we support
existing homeowners,particularly legacy homeowners,
folks that are on a limitedincome with those really much
needed home repairs, you know,so much of our county housing
stock has, you know, was builtafter post World War Two, and it
wasn't built the same way asother housing in the center city
(26:31):
is some of the stuff from the1800s that you know, solid as a
rock, he's a lot of work, butit's a different quality. So
there are needs in our communityfor homeowners to be able to
access low or 0% interest loanproducts to help be able to make
those repairs and stay in theirhomes.
You know, one of the otherfunding sources, I think that's
new, and it's because people aretalking about this issue, I'm
(26:54):
going to give a shout out tosome of our philanthropic
partners, Greater Cincinnatifoundation is all in on this
topic. And they have made somereally great investments and
continue to do that CDF thesame. There are local banks who
are paying attention and realizethat they need to both change
their products and makephilanthropic investments at the
same time. So I think thisconversation has brought lots of
(27:16):
new partners to the table, manyof whom are putting their money
where their mouth is. And Ithink that's a great
and good segue into Emily.
Because not five years or soago, the Hamilton County was a
was not really visible in thisconversation. It's really just
been over the past five years,through our community
development office that we havestarted becoming much more
(27:38):
involved in the issue ofaffordable housing. So Emily,
talk a little bit about some ofthe programs that Hamilton
County is doing to help move theneedle on this issue.
Sure, thanks, Jeff. Um, so the,the biggest way that I'm
community development, andHamilton County is making an
impact is through our homedollars. Our home investment
(28:00):
partnership is a HUD grant. Andsince 2016, coupled with some
some general fund dollars fromlast year, we funded over 600
units. And, you know, like yousaid before, 2016. I don't I
don't know that we've fundedany, as much less so. So we've
(28:22):
really, we really dove right in,we've created a lot of
development partners, we'vefostered a lot of good
relationships that we can keepmoving forward to just continue
developing new construction.
And, you know, we also fundrehab of some housing,
affordable housing. So as youmentioned, preservation is very
important. So we've, we've beendoing some of that as well. So
(28:45):
we also have funded a couple ofsort of pilot downpayment
assistance programs foraffordable housing for qualified
homeowners. So those have gottenoff the ground. And we have a
couple of new partners who areinterested in as Liz said,
they've they've become a part ofthis conversation and they're
(29:05):
and they're looking to partnerwith us in the future on that.
We do a lot of other thingshousing adjacent. So especially
like home improvement repairprograms, as Liz mentioned, we
do those on the small scale andcould definitely do do more in
that arena as well. But those,those home dollars in that
affordable housing constructionis really where we've where
we've been making a bigdifference lately.
(29:28):
And I think this past year, ifI'm not mistaken, Emily, we saw
a huge increase in the cost ofconstruction, which, for a while
was actually stagnating, some ofthese affordable housing
projects that were going on inthe county. And I think at the
time community development andyourself stepped in with a
(29:49):
recommendation to use a milliondollars of general fund dollars
that had been allocated foraffordable housing purposes to
help get those projects startingagain Because absent a boost,
they were going to likely lapse,how many? Can you refresh my
memory and tell our listenershow many units we wound up
funding through that project?
(30:10):
Yeah. So this just a few monthsago, it's about 110, roughly,
units that we funded that weredue to, you know, supply chain
issues, due to the pandemicother issues, we're not going to
be able to fill that gap so thatthat funding definitely helped
(30:31):
all those projects, and thoseunits move forward. So
what are the other things thatthe county is partnering on?
That's really important, that'shousing adjacent is
infrastructure support, RoseWater sewer infrastructure,
though, that's what you need tobuild a house. And the county
has been funding those kinds ofprojects in in ways that are
very helpful to localjurisdictions. I'm thinking of
(30:54):
Addison, and now they have asite, that's probably a great
site for 40 or 50 new units thathave great river view, that need
a new road and some new waterinfrastructure before they can
move forward. So there are thosekind of sites and the county is
playing a great role supportingcommunities in that area as
well.
I remember you mentioning thatparticular project and one of
(31:16):
our past public meetings, Liz,and I think that now bodes for
probably an offlineconversation, because it seems
like that's the exact type ofproject that could be done in an
area of the county that needsthis type of housing in a way
that could also be morebeneficial as well. So
Excellent. Well, Liz, Emily, andKristin, I just want to thank
(31:36):
you so much for thisconversation over the past
couple of weeks. Again, I thinkif we've said anything, it's
this is an issue that impactsevery resident of Hamilton
County no matter what. What ifno matter what economic
classification, you findyourself in no matter what
segment of society you findyourself in affordable housing
is something that means somemight mean a little bit
(31:59):
something different to everyone,but we all every every person
needs a place that they can callhome in a manner that they can
afford it. And until you addressthat most underlying need. It's
hard to move forward with otherthings in the community. So I
want to thank the three of youfor all of your efforts in this
in this area. Thank you for youryour work on on this on this
issue. And I want to thank allof you listening for listening
(32:23):
to what I believe is Episode 11.
Right, Bridget,of what Episode 11 part two,
part two of heart and hustle inHamilton County, and just want
to remind you to subscribe onApple podcast, Spotify and other
providers. You can also findthis podcast on our website,
Hamilton County ohio.gov and onthe county administrator's page.
(32:44):
So on behalf of our guests onbehalf of my co host Bridget
Doherty. I'm Jeff Alito, we'llsee you next time on heart and
hustle in Hamilton County.
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