2020 has been a historic year: the pandemic, social justice protests, the presidential election, etc. Our team made considerable effort to provide data-driven and relevant content that brought clarity and context to various issues. We have appreciated your support and are highlighting what you found most interesting this year. Major themes from our top 10 blogs and podcasts include homeownership, evictions, racial disparities, and homelessness. If you haven't already, be sure to check them out below, and thank you for being a listener and/or reader!
1. Six Steps to Homeownership With OHFA
As spring officially comes to an end and homebuying season reaches its peak, we celebrate National Homeownership Month. Homeownership can affect our health, education, wellbeing and can be a fundamental piece of building generational wealth. You can get started on the path towards homeownership with these six easy steps.
2. HOMES FOR THE BRAVE: VETERAN HOUSING IN OHIO
According to data from the Ohio Housing Finance Agency, over 770,000 veterans are living in Ohio, and approximately nine percent of Ohioans are veterans. As housing prices rise across the state, how are veterans in Ohio coping with these costs?
3. PREDICTING EVICTIONS: A LOOK BACK ON REDLINING IN OHIO
In the 1930s and 1940s, real estate agents and federal bureaucrats created 239 city maps—14 in Ohio—to gauge the riskiness of home financing. Neighborhoods were assigned security grades: the safest areas were graded 'A' and colored green and the riskiest areas were graded 'D' and colored red. While these maps were tied to economic risk, one of the major factors used was race and ethnicity. The riskiest areas either were integrated or had large foreign-born or Black populations, while areas considered the most ideal for lending had essentially no immigrants or Black residents.
4. ARE YOU READY FOR HOMEOWNERSHIP?
While homeownership can be a great tool for building wealth, it also includes expenses like taxes, insurance, utility payments and unexpected repairs. As you begin the homebuying process, make sure you are financially ready.
5. THE STATE OF HOUSING IN OHIO
Where you live impacts your access to healthcare, transportation, quality of education, and more. Yet, in Ohio, there is a shortage of housing across the state, racial inequality in renting and homeownership, and an aging housing stock. Those are just a few key trends found in this year's Housing Needs Assessment.
6. HERE TODAY, HOME TOMORROW: HOW OHFA HELPED THIS OHIO TEACHER BUY HIS FIRST HOME
Every year, the Ohio Housing Finance Agency helps Ohioans buy the homes of their dreams with down payment assistance, homebuyer education and more. In 2017, at 27 years old, Matthew finally became a first-time homeowner.
7. AFFORDABLE HOUSING, RACE AND IMPACT ON EDUCATION
The landmark Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education officially ended segregation in schools. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and other court cases throughout the 1960s and 1970s, further defined the limits of segregation. A 2019 report noted the peak of desegregation occurred in 1988, but since then the share of intensely segregated minority schools has more than tripled.
8. THESE FIVE CHARTS SHOW THE TRUE STRUGGLE FOR BLACK HOMEOWNERSHIP
Owning a home is arguably one of the best ways to build equity and intergenerational wealth. However, this pathway to generating wealth has historically been blocked for non-white households across the country. This trend continues in Ohio, where the gap in homeownership between white and Black householders has been widening steadily for over a decade.
9. HIGHER OPPORTUNITY IN AFFORDABLE HOUSING: MOVE TO PROSPER
Across the country, people's life chances are influenced by the neighborhood they live in and the resources they have in those neighborhoods. Children especially, have the ability to do very well when they move to a higher opportunity community. Move to Prosper founders sought to test this in Columbus, Ohio, the second most economically separated region in the U.S.
10. A CRISIS IN ITSELF: STUDENT HOMELESSNESS AND FOOD INSECURITY
For many children, where they will sleep at night or get their next meal are constant uncertainties. Times of crisis make these basic needs increasingly unpredictable. Many children find consistent sources of food, health and hygiene products, clothing, and more through their schools. Ohio's response to the coronavirus pandemic has required schools to shutter temporarily in an effort to halt the spread of the virus. These actions may save lives, but they pose significant challenges for students who rely on their schools for necessities.
