Imagining a Cincinnati with more housing, investment and community 

Bartley identifies the biggest local problems as lack of affordable housing, and jobs that pay enough to afford a house as well as food access. She sees some Cincinnati neighborhoods struggling. 

The most recent Hamilton County Well-Being survey from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and Gallup echoes that. It finds a decreasing number of people who are thriving. Here are some of the findings:  

• Just 50 percent say they are thriving. 

• An increase in suffering from two percent in the fall of 2024 to 10 percent in the summer of 2025. 

• In the City of Cincinnati 28 percent say they don’t have enough money to buy food. (40 percent of that is in disadvantaged areas) 

• Nineteen percent say they don’t have a group where they feel accepted. 

The survey will release more results in the coming months.  

One guide is the Ripple Conditions which lists certain vital conditions. If any one category is disrupted, people struggle. 

Possible housing solutions 

Bartley says more housing of all types is needed. “It’s not even what is affordable at the lower ends. It is now what is more affordable for most people and how do we make sure we have the different housing types and the different opportunities?” 

Build Ready 

The City of Cincinnati recognizes that and is rolling out its Build Ready plan. With grant funding, architects are creating pre-approved plans for two, three and four family homes on single lots that have already been reviewed and approved by regulatory authorities. It’s hoped these plans will speed up construction and make projects cheaper. 

At public hearings the city is hearing a variety of concerns, including a cookie cutter approach may not be good for unique neighborhoods. Residents also wonder how will this plan help people create generational wealth if they can’t afford land to put one of these structures on? 

Realtor Aaron Weiner wants to know if there is city financing available. “It’s already hard to buy a home. You’re in competition with people who have more money than you, who are paying cash, which makes it easier for people who already have the advantage.” 

Chairman of the North Avondale Neighborhood Association’s Zoning and Planning Committee Walter Koucky thinks Build Ready could be a good first step. “If we wanted to build three plexes on our vacant lots for homeownership which would really be a target of a lot of communities that are losing homeowners for decades, you only need somebody like a community development organization who is going to broker these deals.” 

Cincinnati is moving forward with Build Ready and plans to finalize the project in 2027, constructing two demo buildings on vacant lots. 

Separately, it’s continuing to partner with Hamilton County and the Cincinnati Development Fund to create more affordable housing. 

CDF 

The Cincinnati Development Fund (CDF) describes itself as a mission driven nonprofit lending partner for developers, nonprofits, governments and visionaries. During an April 28 presentation before a Cincinnati Council Committee, CDF said the Affordable Housing Leverage Fund financed 948 total housing units (640 units in the city) in the last fiscal year (April-March). Before the fund (2017-2021) the city averaged 250 units a year. Now the average is 650-700. With expiring  COVID funds, CDF has signed on local funders and is looking for others. 

The importance of Community Development Corporations  

Community Development Corporations are improving neighborhoods across the city.

In Northside, The community development corporation NEST reports it has secured $2 million for the Northside Gateway project at Knowlton’s Corner. Part of that plan is a roundabout. 

Also in the works is a $21 million mixed-use apartment development. The Business Courier reports the 50-70 unit project involves three developers. NEST, Urban Sites and Over-the-Rhine Community Housing will rehabilitate the Stagecraft building and construct a new building on Ludlow Ave.  

NEST says since 2006 it has brought over $14 million in investment to the neighborhood business district through affordable housing. 

In Walnut Hills, The Walnut Hills Redevelopment Foundation, the City of Cincinnati, and The Port began talking about revitalizing the neighborhood as early as 2013. It did that and by 2021 it was also expanding the Black business district. 

In 2021, former president of the Walnut Hills Area Council Kathryne Gardette said she was proud the Cincinnati neighborhood has remained diverse, and is thrilled more minority businesses are moving in. 

“We are of the one percenters and of the no percenters. We are that diverse,” she says. “But what holds us together is our community and wanting to ensure that our community stays diverse.” 

In Over-the-Rhine, the Business Courier reports, “A 16-building portfolio is on deck for redevelopment, aiming to bridge the largest gap in the neighborhood’s ongoing revitalization effort.” 

“Russ Alley Flats,” developer 3CDC will spend $41 million rehabbing the historic vacant and blighted buildings. 

Plans are for 75 new apartments. It’s unclear how many would be designated affordable. 

 There are also plans for more housing in the suburbs. 

Land Readjustment 

Something interesting happened in the suburban Cincinnati City of Silverton in 2022. Residents explored using something called Land Readjustment to develop six acres at Montgomery and Plainfield Roads.  

The way architect and co-founder of The Changing Ground Project Andrea Jandricek explains it: 

• Homeowners consolidate their property into a collectively owned land entity. 

• The land is rezoned, with an area allotted to a “replacement” condo multifamily for the homeowners and an area allotted for a “ground lease” for a developer. 

• The homeowners tap a developer to construct and finance the replacement property for them (free no strings attached) in exchange for a “no-fee” ground lease on the remaining land over a period of 30 years. 

• Once the 30 year “no-fee” ground lease ends, the developer starts to pay a ground lease back to the homeowners (probably 4-5 percent of developer profit). 

• Once the entire ground lease ends (usually 99 years), all the improvements made of the land, including the building built by the developer, belong back to the descendants of the original property owners. 

In  Silverton a half dozen homeowners came on board and so did the owners of 13 commercial properties. However Jandricek says there was a problem with the developer and now Silverton is looking for another one.  

She says this concept is popular in Europe and Asia and could really work in any Cincinnati neighborhood. The Changing Ground Project says it will officially roll out its idea this summer. 

Investment as a solution 

Cincinnati Deputy Director of the Office of Strategic Growth Brandon Rudd is thinking about the future. He uses the past as  his guide.  

“We were the first, kind of the largest city outside the original 13 colonies. We had grown to over a half a million people. We were the sixth largest city in the country. We had booms that surrounded first our waterways, the Ohio River and the canal and then the railroads.”  

Over time Cincinnati’s population decreased to below 300 thousand. However, Rudd says it’s on a better trajectory now. The city gained 20 thousand residents in 2024.  

Rudd says, “I think now is the time to double down and to grow and become a place that is known for innovation and growth the way we were in the 19^th century.”   

Bringing in more outside investment will help. Key to that is this year’s reorganization of the Department of Community and Economic Development. Specific point people have been identified to speed up the process.  

According to Rudd, “We want to make it so developers who are building affordable housing, who are revitalizing neighborhoods, who are doing facade improvements, who are taking our old buildings and bringing them back to life, are able to access city funding and resources and we’re able to get those projects across the finish line.”  

Resources include 33 TIF districts or Tax Incremental Financing and the affordable housing trust fund.  

AI keeping bidders honest 

Cincinnati is drafting a new Artificial Intelligence policy. One reason is  more vendors are relying on AI to write their proposals. Interim Chief procurement Officer Laura Castillo says there must be safeguards to ensure companies are qualified.  

“We just recently attended a procurement conference and AI was a heavy part of the conversation, but the question came on how it is impacted when we have the city requesting a professional service and the bidder or the responder uses AI in their proposal. And it’s definitely something that we are navigating and working through, but we anticipate to realistically see more of and more and more of. “ 

She says Cincinnati will incorporate a final stage of in-person interviews to make sure that they’re able to do the job that they’re applying for.”  

A quick Google search finds AI programs advertising they can help find, bid and win government contracts.  

Improving community 

Sidewalk Hospitality is the brainchild of Ruth Anne Wolfe and her organization Community Happens Here.   

“Sidewalk Hospitality is going literally or metaphorically to the sidewalk in your community with your own body and a little bit of lemonade or iced tea or something, little bit of hospitality and a little bit of art and sitting there and inviting people to join you.”  

Wolfe put it to use in Pleasant Ridge beginning in 2016 and recently in Madisonville. 

 “You overhear people … Just the first level is, “Oh, where do you live? Oh, you live on that street? Oh, I walk on that street. You have a dog. Do I have a dog?” There’s very small things. don’t want her to come. I like that I can come by myself.” Or, ”I love drawing.” I always draw anime, tiny little pieces that then we try to hook on and create further conversations.”  

Wolfe is quick to credit the youth. She says this program would not be successful if not for teens, like fifteen-year-old Ezra Logan, who doesn’t even live in Pleasant Ridge but took this project on as an internship.   

Logan says, “What I’ve gotten out of this, entrepreneurship, community-based learning, community togetherness. I don’t have that a lot in Finneytown, like I said up there. And what I’ve also learned from it is the way people connect, teens connect, and how they’re more comfortable with adults when they’re in that safe space.”  

Ruth Anne Wolfe’s organization, Community Happens Here, hopes Sidewalk Hospitality spreads to every Cincinnati neighborhood. 

Brick by Brick’s Hernz Laguerre Jr. also focused on the importance of youth in this podcast. 

 Limitations 

There are limitations to creating great neighborhoods and growing your city. In addition to the dedication of residents, political and corporate will is important. The global commercial real estate company CBRE lists these six elements critical for cities to thrive.  

1. Economic Dynamism  

2. Demographic Potential  

3. Lifestyle Vibrancy  

4. Resilient Infrastructure  

5. Distinctive Identity  

6. Responsive Governance  

Looking to the future 

Moving your city forward takes initiative. Invest in Neighborhoods Executive Director Elizabeth Bartley calls it civic muscle, on the ground, in your neighborhood, building community and working with one another. She hears about the constant challenge of trying to get residents to turn out for community council meetings. Here’s one idea that worked.  

She says, “The Downtown Residents Council, they did not have a lot of participation and then they just started mixing it up so that they had their meeting at a different place every time that would showcase what was in the neighborhood.”  

According to Bartley, more got involved and they are younger. 

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