As the regional contact for National Community Stabilization Trust’s (NCST) First Look Program local housing provider, the HURC acts as an invaluable resource for CDCs in acquiring properties to aid them in achieving their revitalization goals. Through this program, the HURC can acquire foreclosed and abandoned properties from financial institutions before they are put on the market. Then the HURC works with the CDCs to transfer these properties for the purchase price plus a small holding fee for the CDCs redevelopment purposes.
Through this program, the HURC acquires vacant, abandoned and foreclosed properties on otherwise stable streets typically in low and moderate income areas. By purchasing and rehabbing what is often the worst house on the street, the HURC is keeping the street from reaching a tipping point and helping to preserve the investments of other homeowners in the neighborhood.
In this model, the HURC follows the Hamilton County Land Reutilization Corporation’s (HCLRC) Rehab Across Cincinnati and Hamilton County (REACH) program into a neighborhood. The HURC then rehabs a number of properties in the REACH focus area and the surrounding areas. These homes are typically not good REACH candidates because of their smaller size, but are viable homeownership opportunities for low and moderate income homeowners.
The HURC’s first focus neighborhood under this program, HURC Evanston follows the rehab of 25+ homes by REACH. Through a grant from the City of Cincinnati and support from LISC, the HURC will be able to rehab homes for low and moderate-income families in Evanston. Since starting work in Evanston in 2018, HURC has completed five affordable homes in the neighborhood.
The Farmer Family Foundation provided a grant to create a partnership between the HURC and Price Hill Will. The grant will facilitate the creation and implementation of a homesteading program for affordable housing in Price Hill. The grant complements the work of REACH Price Hill and thanks to the support from the City of Cincinnati, fifteen REACH homes and six HURC homes have been completed in the neighborhood since 2018.
Over the past 33 years, the HURC has been responsible for the rehab of over 700 houses, including 14 since 2015 utilizing the NCST and HCLRC for inventory. In the past, it also facilitated the transformation of Walworth Street in Columbia Tusculum from abandoned, blighted buildings with negative value to a current value of over $13 million in owner occupied housing units.
This equates to an approximate gap of 40,000 units for those households making $14,678 or less (30% of Hamilton County’s median income).
HURC has utilized funds from both City of Cincinnati and Hamilton County Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) funds. Currently, City of Cincinnati Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) funds and private development sources such as the Farmer Family Foundation, Greater Cincinnati Foundation, PNC Bank, Hubert Foundation, LISC, Union Savings/Guardian Bank, the Fifth Third Foundation, and Greater Cincinnati Neighborhoods Housing Revitalization Loan Fund finance our rehabs along with HURC’s own reserves.
Due to lower interest rates and first time homebuyer programs, the HURC eliminated the Dollar Lottery Program that proved to be labor intensive, and changed its operations to focus on acquiring, rehabbing and reselling properties to first-time, low, and moderate income homebuyers.
In 2009, the HURC became the sole regional contact for the National Community Stabilization Trust (NCST) to facilitate the acquisition of vacant and/or foreclosed properties when local contacts are not available. Additionally, properties are acquired through the HURC’s partnership with the Hamilton County Landbank.
Since 2015, the Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority (“Port Authority”) has acted as the management company for the HURC; the Port Authority has also managed the Hamilton County Land Reutilization Corporation (“HCLRC ”) since 2012. This partnership leverages enterprise-wide tools and expertise to reclaim and redevelop vacant and abandoned properties. Under management contracts, the Port Authority provides staffing needs for the HURC and the HCLRC. Additionally, the Port Authority provides all necessary administrative, executive and management support including accounting, real estate, development and legal and other professional services. Through this management model, the HURC has broadened its ability to respond to neighborhood disinvestment, and lack of affordable workforce housing. Consequently, the HURC has been able to expand its efforts in completing affordable residential development throughout the City of Cincinnati and Hamilton County.
HURC has a construction manager consultant and a real estate agent look at all properties before they are purchased. The construction manager consultant prepares an estimate of the work while the real estate agent pulls comparative sales information and prepares an “as-is” and “after-rehab” value.
You can check the income limits for Hamilton County on the HUD website.
HURC does not provide financial assistance for private projects. As a non-profit, HURC does not have the financial capacity to offer external project financing.
