OHFA 2021 First Quarter Agency at a Glance

OHFA UPDATE - PAGE 5 - FIRST QUARTER Office of Research and Analytics AND OUTREACH & ENGAGEMENT UPDATE The Office of Research and Analytics distracted itself from the icy cold with two fun blogs. Our Valentine’s Day post , by Chelsea Buckwalter, explored the composition of singles throughout Ohio, calling these areas “dating hot spots”. The data showed where singles are concentrated in Ohio overall, and how that varies by age group. Our President’s Day blog , photographed and created by Devin Keithley, is a tour of the Ohio homes inhabited by U.S. Presidents. Dr. Cody Price released an excellent podcast on rural housing and the many misconceptions we have about rural areas with Dr. Corianne Scally from the Urban Institute. Internally, Housing Policy has also been working diligently on the Power of Home, a pilot project aimed to help moderate-income first-time homebuyers stay in their homes through post-purchase guidance and small-dollar support. Since its December launch, we have enrolled more than 40 participants in the pilot and have worked with both OSU and Framework to develop additional content for users. Recently, we began our second round of outreach with OHFA homebuyers. The Annual Planning process also began in earnest in February with OHFA’s first Annual Plan Board Committee meeting. During the coming months, we will be working with stakeholders and housing experts to streamline and solidify our strategic initiatives for the FY22-23 period. If you have feedback or guidance, please contact ohfapublichearing@ohiohome.org . OUTREACH AND ENGAGEMENT Since January, OHFA has presented to 674 real estate agents through live accredited webinars. OHFA partnered with mortgage companies, boards of realtors, Freddie Mac, and Essent Guaranty to provide different course offerings and expand OHFA’s reach through their contact base. OHFA has also sent out two video emails to the realtor and lender communities about the benefits of conventional loans and how to utilize the OHFA website for clients. Upcoming outreach includes Facebook Live events outlining OHFA homebuyer programs. The Office of Training and Technical Assistance has several tools and resources to help development partners stay in compliance and maintain safe, high quality conditions for your property. Did you know we developed a new resource manual ? The manual will help partners compare and comply with more than 40 housing program rules like student eligibility, effective dates of certifications, and more. We also have a searchable database with more than 100 compliance questions on our Compliance FAQs page. Several upcoming dates are available for the OHFA Compliance Policies and Regulations Training webinars, which fulfills OHFA’s Qualified Allocation Plan training requirement to obtain IRS Form 8609. Need help understanding the complexities of acquisition/rehab? OHFA is bringing back the Conquering Acquisition/ Rehab Training webinar, and 2021 registration is available. Don’t miss this opportunity to conquer the complexities and learn best practices for Acq/Rehab projects. KATIE FALLON DIRECTOR OF HOUSING POLICY Coming Soon! OHFA has developed a new, in-demand LIHTC Essentials Training. This two-day webinar dives into the weeds on income and everything assets, LIHTC basics, qualifying households, rent and income limits, OHFA inspections and many other topics. Registration for this biannual series opens soon.