Stories of Home
The Ohio Housing Finance Agency is proud to present Stories of Home – a blog that features current happenings in the housing industry and also highlights those that have been positively impacted by our Agency's work.
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A Picture of Ohio's Homeless in 2017: More Children, Aging Adults and Families
70,123 Ohioans accessed homelessness services in 2017, and trends show this population is increasingly composed of children, older adults, families, and special populations.
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Why Ohio's LGBTQ Youth Are Vulnerable to Homelessness
According to the Williams Institute, 40 percent of homeless youth identify as LGBTQ. What issues are these youths facing that make them particularly vulnerable to homelessness?
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Becoming First Time Home Buyers
Tanesha and Darrio were paying for a two-bedroom apartment that they both knew they'd eventually leave. So they asked themselves, "Why not pay for something that we're going to have forever?"
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Who Lives in Housing Tax Credit Properties in Ohio?
Nationally, state housing finance agencies are required to collect annual information about residents currently living in homes built or rehabilitated using housing tax credits. The Office of Research and Analytics evaluated how Ohio compares to national averages using 2017 data.
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Homes for the Brave: Veteran Housing in Ohio
According to data from the Ohio Housing Finance Agency (OHFA), 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?
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Homes That Work for Working Families
The state of Ohio needs housing that is suited to the needs of working families. When developing housing, how can organizations help families improve their lives while also providing safe, stable and affordable homes?
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Property Managers Face Challenges in Preparations for the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)
In 2013, Congress reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), which is intended to support victims of domestic and dating violence, sexual assault and/or stalking, and to protect them from being denied housing or from losing their affordable housing.
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Four Ways Removing Blighted and Vacant Properties Stabilizes Communities
Over the last decade, more research has emerged on how blight affects residents' health. Blighted and vacant properties can lead to neurological disorders, respiratory diseases, asthma, lead poisoning and other serious medical conditions.
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Predicting Evictions: A Look Back on Redlining in Ohio
Can redlining maps made eight decades ago predict where evictions occur today? Redlining set in motion decades of community disinvestment that has plagued many of these neighborhoods ever since.
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Evicted: Tenants' Rights and Unsafe Housing
Housing stock for low-income residents is aging, and housing conditions show it, from lead-based paint to poor heating systems and more. This poor-quality housing often leads to eviction, housing code violations and other hazards. How can residents avoid eviction and find a safe place to call home?
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Evicted: No Place to Call Home
In 2016, over 100,000 evictions were filed in Ohio alone. What is at the root of this housing instability, and how do we tackle these issues in a cost-effective and humane way?
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Here Today, Home Tomorrow: How OHFA Helped This Ohio Teacher Buy His First Home
Every year, the Ohio Housing Finance Agency (OHFA) helps Ohioans buy the homes of their dreams with down payment assistance, homebuyer education and more. In 2017, at the age of 27 years old, Matthew finally became a first-time homeowner.
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Homelessness in Ohio Seven Times More Common than Previously Reported
OHFA published the first report based on information collected through the Ohio Human Services Data Warehouse (OHSDW). The report provides information on the number of individuals who accessed homelessness services between 2012 and 2016 in 86 of Ohio's 88 counties.
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How Grants for Grads Helped Courtney Return to Her Childhood Community
After graduating from Otterbein University in 2013, Courtney and her fiancé, John, knew they wanted to purchase a home. However, homeownership seemed like a far-off dream. Then, John found the Ohio Housing Finance Agency's Grants for Grads program, and they realized their dream could become a reality much sooner than they expected.
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The views and opinions portrayed in Stories of Home do not necessarily reflect the policies or position of the Ohio Housing Finance Agency.
