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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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 Housing Policy 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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How OHFA Is Addressing Addiction Through Housing
Across the United States, cities and states are noticing increases in addiction and overdose rates. For example, Ohio has one of the highest rates of opioid-related overdose deaths in the country. In 2016 alone, over 3,600 people died from opioid-related overdoses.
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Finding a Just-Right Home: The Realities of Renting in Ohio
How well-suited are renters to their homes? Though housing researchers have explored the affordability and accessibility of housing, comparatively little research has been done on how compatible existing housing stock is with residents in the area.
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Back to School, Back to Basics: How Affordable Housing Helps Children Thrive
Children across the state of Ohio are heading back to school, but where are they laying their heads at night? The Ohio Department of Education found that over 20,000 public school students lacked stable housing at some point during the 2016-2017 school year.
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The Senior Tsunami
Welcome to the first episode of Doorsteps, a podcast by OHFA's Office of Housing Policy. Join Dr. Cody Price, Research Analyst at OHFA, as he discusses housing in the state of Ohio and the challenges Ohioans face in the place they call home.
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Doorsteps: What Is Affordable Housing? (And What It's Not)
Welcome to the first episode of Doorsteps, a podcast by OHFA's Office of Housing Policy. Join Dr. Cody Price, Research Analyst at OHFA, as he discusses housing in the state of Ohio and the challenges Ohioans face in the place they call home.
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The Journey to Homeownership: What to Expect Along the Way
OHFA's homeownership programs provide down payment assistance, lower interest rates, mortgage tax credits and more to help Ohioans become homeowners. While purchasing a home can seem complicated, OHFA and partnering lenders across the state are ready to guide you through the homebuying process.
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A Place to Belong: How Intergenerational Housing Developments Benefit Residents of All Ages
For Dorothy, Calvin and Marvin, living in a place that fit their needs and that they could truly call home was a blessing. After 11 years, they finally found a perfect place and community at Griot Village in Cleveland.
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Gimme Shelter: A New Take on Housing Affordability
Is the rent too high? The question is a common one. How do housing experts answer it? Most scholars and public agencies, including OHFA, consider a renter household paying more than 30 percent of its income toward rent and utilities to be experiencing "housing cost burden."
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The Dos and Don'ts of Purchasing Your First Home
Purchasing your first home can be a complicated and intimidating process with massive financial repercussions. By following the five dos and avoiding the five don'ts below, you can find the home of your dreams without a nightmarish homebuying process.
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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.
