Homeownership

HOME and Partners Announce Roadmap to Address 40% Gap in Black Homeownership in Cincinnati and Hamilton County 

Tuesday, November 1, 2022 – Housing Opportunities Made Equal of Greater Cincinnati Inc. (HOME) and partner organizations are publicly launching the Roadmap for Increasing Black Homeownership: Making generational wealth through homeownership available to everyone in Cincinnati and Hamilton County.

Amid a national housing crisis, Cincinnati finds itself at a crucial tipping point. Black homeownership in the Cincinnati Metro Area is around 33%, while White homeownership is approximately 73% — a 40% gap. This gap is one of the worst compared to other cities across the country, and is also getting worse over time. The racial homeownership gap is a main driver of the racial wealth gap, and contributes to vastly different outcomes for White families and Black families in our community.

A coalition of 30 civic leaders, non-profit agencies, philanthropic groups, and community housing providers have endorsed the Roadmap’s comprehensive set of policy recommendations that aim to increase and preserve Black homeownership. If enacted, the set of recommendations will effectively combat the enormous homeownership gap within our City and County and tap into the opportunities existing in a more equitable housing market.

Current endorsers of the Roadmap for Increasing Black Homeownership include Action Tank, Cincinnati Affordable Housing Advocates (AHA), Cincinnati Development Fund (CDF), Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA), Cincinnati NAACP, CincyWorks, Community Action Agency, Community Building Institute, Easterseals, Found House Interfaith Housing Network, Greater Cincinnati Foundation, Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition, Greater Cincinnati Realtist Association, Greenlight Fund, Human Services Chamber, Legal Aid Society of Southwest Ohio, Local Initiative Support Corporation Greater Cincinnati (LISC), Metropolitan Area Religious Coalition of Cincinnati (MARCC), Over the Rhine Community Housing, Price Hill Will, Santa Maria Community Service, Strategies to End Homelessness, Talbert House, UpSpring, Urban League of Southwest Ohio, Working in Neighborhoods, YMCA, YWCA, and Zillow.

The Roadmap for Increasing Black Homeownership proposes six key policy recommendations that will increase Black homeownership and preserve existing Black homeowners:

  • Expand lending to Black and low-income homeowners that is fair and non-predatory
  • Establish a loan and grant fund to support existing low- and moderate- income homeowners
  • Modify zoning to be more inclusive
  • Provide property tax relief to low-income homeowners in neighborhoods where property values are rising at a rate above the Countywide average
  • Modify tax abatement incentives to support Black homeowners and homeowners in neighborhoods experiencing weak housing market performance that include a significant number of Black households
  • Create an independent, transparent monitoring process

The recommendations and specific initiatives highlighted in the Roadmap for Increasing Black Homeownership draw from existing reports and plans including LISC’s Housing Our Future report, the Fair Housing Assessment for Cincinnati and Hamilton County, and the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber’s Embracing Growth Principles for Regional Housing.

“HOME and our partners have been working on the Roadmap for Increasing Black Homeownership for years. We are focusing our efforts now on implementing the recommendations of the Roadmap, and working to ensure there are programs and policies that are focused on addressing this opportunity for Black homeownership,” says Elisabeth Risch, Executive Director of HOME. “There are some exciting developments that align with our recommendations, including new funding commitments for home repair, proposals to reform tax abatements, and zoning changes. We want to ensure that racial equity is central to all of these initiatives and has real and true impact on both increasing and preserving Black homeownership in Cincinnati and Hamilton County.”

HOME and partner organizations call on the Cincinnati City County and Hamilton County Commissioners to jointly work on implementing the policy recommendations from the Roadmap to Increasing Black Homeownership. Additionally, we call on private and public sector stakeholders including financial institutions and lenders to implement practices recommended in the Roadmap.

For a full version of our Roadmap please click this link or view the PDF below: https://homecincy.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/HOME-Roadmap-to-Black-Home-Ownership-Report-10-12-2022.pdf

HOME Roadmap to Black Home Ownership Report 10-12-2022

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