Stories of Home Archive

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.

Opportunity Zones: Targeting Investment in Ohio's Most Distressed Communities
Posted on August 14, 2019
As part of a federal tax incentive created by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 to spur private investment in economically-distressed communities, Opportunity Zones were chosen through a two-step process. In Ohio 1,647 census tracts were identified as eligible.
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Investing in LIHTC Residents
Posted on July 23, 2019
A safe, decent, and affordable home can help improve the economic mobility of a low-income resident. Coupling this with proper amenities and services can help bolster the resident's success and economic security. Learn more in this episode of Doorsteps.
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Trust Fund Gives Homeless Veterans a Place to Call Home
Posted on July 15, 2019
Many Ohio veterans struggle to afford housing. In Ross County, 44% of veteran renter households were rent burdened between 2013 and 2017, higher than the state average (30%), according to data from the American Community Survey.
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Ohio Veterans Experiencing Housing Cost Burden
Posted on June 3, 2019
One in five veterans in Ohio live in a household spending more than 30% of their income on housing—the standard measure for housing cost burden. Older veterans, who make up more than two-thirds of Ohio's veteran population, are more likely to experience housing cost burden than their younger counterparts.
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National Housing Week of Action with COHHIO
Posted on May 30, 2019
The National Housing Week of Action (#OurHomesOurVoices) is May 30 through June 5. Advocates will call attention to the need for increased investment in affordable housing by making the affordable rental housing shortage a national priority.
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Revitalizing Over-the-Rhine
Posted on May 1, 2019
Over the past 30 years, community developers have transformed Over-the-Rhine, an historic neighborhood in Cincinnati, OH. In this episode of Doorsteps, learn how the Model Group's efforts can help protect neighborhood residents and be replicated to other neighborhoods.
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Closing Ohio's Affordable Housing Gap
Posted on April 9, 2019
There's a large gap in Ohio between the number of renters at the lowest income levels and the amount of affordable and available rental units. In 2017 there were only 189,056 rental units that were both affordable and available to Ohio's 437,765 extremely low-income (ELI) renter households.
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Zoning in Columbus: Single-Family vs. Multifamily
Posted on April 2, 2019
Columbus's population is projected to grow by nearly one million by 2050. Other states and cities facing similar growth have re-evaluated or changed their single-family zoning codes. These models could provide potential pathways to ensure Columbus remains sustainable and affordable, even as the population expands.
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Transforming Community through Public Art
Posted on March 26, 2019
Public art has long been recognized as a tool to connect people with places. In this episode of Doorsteps, Dr. Cody Price speaks with David Wilson from LAND Studio, a non-profit organization in Cleveland about the importance of public art, and how it can have a positive effect in the community.
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Where's the Bus? Affordable Housing and the Value of Public Transportation
Posted on February 19, 2019
How well are low-income workers living in OHFA financed affordable rental units served by local transit? Across 13 urban areas in Ohio, OHFA renters are better served by transit than the average household. Yet the quality of access varies substantially based on the size of the urban area.
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