A roundup of recent local and national articles focused on affordable housing:

July 9, 2021 – WCPO: ‘Nowhere to go’: The pandemic pushes the housing crisis to a tipping point

  • “Across the country, house prices are increasing and inventory is decreasing. Luddy says that landlords are also learning, especially in places where people vacation, more money can be made through short-term rentals through apps, like Airbnb or VRBO. In Cape Cod, the pandemic has only made this problem worse for the working class.”

June 30, 2021 – WVXU: Downtown Residents Find Themselves Caught In Affordable Housing Gap — Are Solutions Coming?

  • “They risk joining the estimated 19,000 households struggling with housing affordability in Cincinnati, according to data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Some housing advocates fear that number could rise as Cincinnati’s real estate market continues on a white-hot uptick.”

June 23, 2021 – Spectrum News 1: Bramble House: New accessible, affordable housing option in Hamilton County

  • “Bramble House, Alice’s House and the soon-to-open Freedom House complex will bring about 40 new affordable living spaces to the region.”

June 9, 2021 – CNN: The only way to resolve the nation’s affordable housing crisis

  • “It is a relief to see policymakers finally focus in earnest on the nation’s crumbling infrastructure. But it is unnerving to see so little attention given to what may be the most critical infrastructure need of all: the nation’s dire shortage of affordable housing. If Congress is to take overhauling infrastructure seriously, it has to tackle the shortfall.”

May 20, 2021 – WCPO: Could this Bond Hill duplex offer lessons to solve the region’s affordable housing shortage?

  • “The Bond Hill duplex could offer rewards for the region, too, as a lesson in how to tackle Greater Cincinnati’s affordable housing shortage in two important ways. The project is creating homeownership opportunities for people whose wages make it hard for them to find decent housing they can afford – and it’s encouraging young people to pursue construction careers with higher wages that make it easier to afford a decent place to live.”

May 20, 2021 – WCPO: American Rescue Plan set to bring windfall to Greater Cincinnati housing initiatives

  • “Between the city of Cincinnati and Hamilton County at large, the county’s communities stand to put a combined $90 million toward affordable housing projects. How that money gets divided up, though, remained to be seen Thursday.”

May 18, 2021 – WVXU: As Prices Increase, Hamilton County Looks To Develop Affordable Housing Strategy

  • “Hamilton County officials are working on concurrent plans to address affordable housing county-wide and in certain communities. The county is using federal HUD funding to develop housing strategies for six communities, working with LISC Greater Cincinnati and the Community Building Institute at Xavier University.”

May 17, 2021 – MRSC: Expanding Affordable Housing Options Through Missing Middle Housing

  • “The experience these five cities had in developing a missing middle program provide a potential blueprint for other communities wishing to begin discussions on how to increase affordable housing opportunities.”

May 17, 2021 – Multi-Housing News: Social Impact Investors Target Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing

  • “But value-add investors that renovate and raise rents at thousands of Class B and C apartment communities represent one of the biggest threats to the supply of workforce rental units, often referred to as naturally occurring affordable housing or “NOAH.” As a result, social impact funds have emerged to compete with value-add investors and preserve affordability for renters typically earning between 60 percent and 120 percent of area median income.”

May 5, 2021 – WCPO: Affordable housing advocates ‘excited for the momentum that we’ve created,’ even after Issue 3 fails

  • “Although about two-thirds of Cincinnati voters rejected Issue 3 during Tuesday’s primary, Newman and other affordable housing advocates said they were happy to highlight Cincinnati’s housing shortage in a place where thousands more people would see and think about it… And in a long-term battle for housing equity, raising awareness is its own victory.”

May 5, 2021 – Next City: Meeting Biden’s New Climate Target Starts with Affordable, Sustainable Housing

  • “The first big plan to follow through on these climate commitments is the American Jobs Plan, which will provide resources to build, preserve and retrofit more than 1 million resilient and affordable housing units through an array of resources—grants, energy-efficiency tax credits, public housing capital backlog resources, support for rural housing and new project-based rental assistance. In addition, the plan calls for the enactment of the Neighborhood Homes Investment Act (NHIA), which would support the construction and rehabilitation of over 500,000 homes in distressed communities.”