Is a Cincinnati response to out-of-town investors now a national model for preserving local affordable housing? On this episode of Brick by Brick, we’re diving into a solution created by The Port (short for Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority), in which an agency or non-profit effectively buys up affordable housing – competing against institutional or Wall Street investors – in order to maintain local control and preserve housing stock. Brick by Brick journalist Hernz Laguerre Jr. follows along on the homebuying journey with residents interested in buying some of The Port’s properties – known as the CARE portfolio.
Interview Guest: Laura Brunner, CEO of The Port.
Is a Cincinnati response to out-of-town investors now a national model for preserving local affordable housing? On this episode of Brick by Brick, we’re diving into a solution created by The Port (short for Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority), in which an agency or non-profit effectively buys up affordable housing – competing against institutional or Wall Street investors – in order to maintain local control and preserve housing stock. Brick by Brick journalist Hernz Laguerre Jr. follows along on the homebuying journey with residents interested in buying some of The Port’s properties – known as the CARE portfolio.
Interview Guest: Laura Brunner, CEO of The Port.
Ann Thompson:
Housing. It's a topic that impacts everyone in the community and right now we are in the middle of a housing crisis. Prices are at a record high and availability is at a record low, both for buyers and renters, but is everyone feeling it? We ask some people in Cincinnati and Dayton,
Randy Livengood, Kettering, OH resident:
I don't want to say it's a crisis, but there are a lot of people that want houses and can't get them
Parker Gilmore, Cincinnati, OH resident:
with affordable housing maybe,
Janara Tucker, Cincinnati, OH resident:
But years ago they were very affordable, five, $600. Now I pay $1,400 for a three bedroom apartment.
Lee Perry, Dayton, OH resident:
If they want people to stay here and if they want people to have a better life than do something, help us.
Ann Thompson:
The challenges in affordability and availability are real for home buyers and renters across most income levels. So what's to be done? What are the solutions? That's what will be focused on here in this new podcast. Today. A look at how the port in Cincinnati is adding to the available stock of affordable housing by reclaiming single family homes from out of town investors making more homes available to local buyers.
Rachel Thompson, Real-Estate Agent:
I think the city of Cincinnati, our goal is to level those playing fields and to reduce as many barriers to home ownership as possible.
Ann Thompson:
We'll hear from potential buyers, real estate partners, and The Port's leadership about this innovative approach. This is Brick by Brick: Solutions for a thriving community.
Voiceover (Underwriting):
Brick by brick is made possible thanks to leading support from Debra and Robert Chavez and Greater Cincinnati Foundation with additional major support from AES Ohio Foundation, Laurie Johnston, Susan Howarth Foundation, the George and Margaret McLane Foundation, Diane and Dave Moccia, The Dayton Foundation, the Robert and Adele Schiff Family Foundation, and more. Thank you.
Ann Thompson:
Welcome to Brick by Brick, where we highlight solutions to community issues in Southwest Ohio. I'm your host, Ann Thompson. It's episode one. We're so excited that you're with us as we get started on this journey around solutions! To start this brand new initiative, our team will be focusing our coverage this year on the housing crisis in our corner of the tri-state region. What are the core issues? What are the fixes? How are they working? What are the limitations and maybe most importantly, what can we all learn from their success or failure? As you heard in the intro, the idea of a housing crisis may resonate differently depending upon your circumstances. At the core of the challenge for home buyers, renters and other stakeholders, including those who may already own a home, are problems of affordability and availability. Even though these two issues certainly overlap and impact each other, let's just take a moment to define what we mean affordability. First, Gary Painter is Professor of Real Estate at the University of Cincinnati.
Gary Painter, University of Cincinnati:
So when we think about affordability, we're typically just thinking about how much of your income is going toward your rent. And so if more and more of your income is going to rent, then we say that's a reduction in affordability. And nationally, we've looked at thresholds like paying more than 30% of your income is rent. As you being rent-burdened, you're paying too much of your income in rent, therefore leaving you a burden to pay for everything else.
Ann Thompson:
The same affordability scale applies to homeowners. Right now, the real estate company, Redfin says, today's market is the least affordable housing market on record. Nationally, only 16% of homes listed are affordable to the average family and costs keep rising. Let's talk about this at the local level. In Hamilton County, the median home price is $244,000, up 7% in the last 12 months. For Montgomery county, the median price is $189,000. That's nearly 8% more expensive than a year ago. Another problem at the heart of current housing woes, according to experts and our neighbors is availability. Even if you have enough money to afford a home or apartment, there's just not enough to go around right now. The number of listings has dropped 16% from 2022 to 2023, and some economists don't expect it to increase until 2025 or until interest rates are back in the low 5% range. In housing, these issues of affordability and availability are intertwined. Here's Gary Painter again.
Gary Painter, University of Cincinnati:
We haven't built enough housing. Simple supply and demand. If you don't build enough supply, demand increases, supply doesn't increase, then the rent's going to go up much faster than people's ability to pay the rent.
Ann Thompson:
With that said, why don't we jump into these issues together so we can all learn something to help us with that? Let me introduce another member of our Brick by brick team, multimedia journalist, Hearns Lagar Jr. Hey, Hearns.
Hernz Laguerre Jr., Brick by Brick Journalist:
What's up man? Yeah,
Ann Thompson:
So we have been diving into the housing beat to find solutions. One thing that becomes really obvious is just how complicated housing and community development really are.
Hernz Laguerre Jr., Brick by Brick Journalist:
It's true. When you think about the amount of money it takes to acquire, revitalize, and renovate existing housing, it's a lot. It's just a lot to think about.
Ann Thompson:
Yeah, not to mention that for everyday renters or homeowners, the process of finding something affordable can be frustrating and really time consuming.
Hernz Laguerre Jr., Brick by Brick Journalist:
That's true. And as we're looking into these issues, we're trying to see what solutions are being applied to them. Ann, you and I talk all the time how we know a lot, but we're not necessarily experts, so we look forward to learning with you all and taking you on this journey so that we can all learn together.
Ann Thompson:
That's a really great point, Hernz. So you've been digging into one of the solutions underway in our area, but let's start with the problem which impacts both availability and affordability.
Hernz Laguerre Jr., Brick by Brick Journalist:
It does. One of the big problems many folks have probably heard about locally and even nationally is the impact of out-of-state investors, especially institutional ones, who are coming in, buying up a lot of these houses, some in concentrated areas, and just racking up the rent, not always serving as the best landlords. Let's look nationwide. At the end of 2021, during the pandemic, commercial investors have spent $50 billion to buy more than 80,000 homes.
Wow.
Frequently these homes were lower costs or distressed. And in Hamilton County, let's look locally, they own about 4,200 homes. Most of those are in Price Hill, Corra and Springfield Townships,
Ann Thompson:
And that's just in greater Cincinnati.
Hernz Laguerre Jr., Brick by Brick Journalist:
So let's look at Dayton. An estimated 5,000 homes are owned by out-of-town investors. Just in Huber Heights, they own more than 1,500 housing units. That's about 10% to 12% of the housing stock.
Ann Thompson:
That's mind boggling.
Hernz Laguerre Jr., Brick by Brick Journalist:
This continuous buying up of houses by real estate investors who turn them into rental units and double and triple the rent is a problem. Some see as only getting worse. An additional problem is that when an out of town investor buys up a bundle of houses, very often paying in cash, a prospective home buyer doesn't even have a chance to make an offer. So this affects both renters and buyers.
Ann Thompson:
But there is something being tried here in greater Cincinnati and it's being held up as a model. This is where a public agency basically competes with institutional investors that you're talking about to reclaim local control of housing. It fixes up rundown and rental properties in a sense and makes them available to local buyers at an affordable rate.
Hernz Laguerre Jr., Brick by Brick Journalist:
That's right. And for this, we need to tell you about the Port of Greater Cincinnati. They came up with the idea. The Port is a public entity that says, "it fixes broken real estate by buying and redeveloping commercial and residential property." The Port works in seven priority neighborhoods in Cincinnati.
Ann Thompson:
Yeah, and we're talking about Avondale, Bond Hill, Colerain Township, Evanston, Madisonville, Price Hill and Walnut Hills among others.
Hernz Laguerre Jr., Brick by Brick Journalist:
The idea, like you said earlier in, is to buy rental homes from those out-of-state investors and make them affordable for local home buyers.
Ann Thompson:
Okay, Hernz. Well, some listeners may remember this move when it first happened a little more than two years ago, The Port bought 194 homes for one of these institutional investors, Raineth, who went under,
Hernz Laguerre Jr., Brick by Brick Journalist:
And at the time, many of those homes and buildings were in pretty bad condition. Since then, The Port has been renovating them and some have been sold the port plans to put even more on the market. This summer I spoke to some potential home buyers interested in the homes the port was putting on the market. I met with a young Cincinnati couple and a retiree who shared a respective journeys in a difficult housing market. Take a listen
Shiobanne Parra:
When you realize there's so many people, so many more people giving better offers than what you can afford that makes it compli- that makes hard for you.
Hernz Laguerre Jr., Brick by Brick Journalist:
That was Shiobanne Perra. She and her husband, Diego Raxuleu had been looking for a new home since 2020.
Shiobanne Parra:
As the children started getting older, the space started reducing and then we realized that this is never going to be ours.
Diego Raxuleu:
We tried to stay in the area Cincinnati, so we are looking everywhere.
Hernz Laguerre Jr., Brick by Brick Journalist:
Between 2020 to late 2023, Shiobanne and Diego looked at approximately 25 homes in the area. While disappointing to them, what made it especially tough was explaining it to their kids.
Shiobanne Parra:
The majority of the time they would say, I'm tired. Sometimes we would go to see homes and it would be five in the afternoon and they would get off the bus, let's stop at McDonald's and get something quick or pizza or whatever because we have a home to go view. And then they'll be in the car and they'll say, well, yay, this is finally it. They're all excited.
Diego Raxuleu:
They kids, they got emotion. Today, he wants his room. Yeshua he wants his room. It's difficult to have a home or buy a home too,
Hernz Laguerre Jr., Brick by Brick Journalist:
Whether it's trying to find a new home to accommodate your growing family or in Ella Carre's case waiting for a home that isn't on the market. The options in this housing market are slim when the budget is tight. Ella has found a port home that she really likes in the West Price Hill neighborhood, but there are still renovations being done, so she'll have to wait even though she's ready
Ella Carre:
Now.
Hernz Laguerre Jr., Brick by Brick Journalist:
You want to move into the house
Ella Carre:
Now? I'm ready. Could you tell
Hernz Laguerre Jr., Brick by Brick Journalist:
Ella Carre is a retired nursing aid and an Army vet. She found out about the Port while watching the local evening news. She also learned that the Port was partnering with WIN, Working in Neighborhoods, to help tenants become homeowners. To do that, they help people learn more about home ownership, increased financial literacy and improved communities. Ella has taken classes from when before and she reached out to her counselor to see if it was possible
Ella Carre:
And she said, yeah, they are working with us and they have some houses. And so I said, well, I'm interested in it.
Hernz Laguerre Jr., Brick by Brick Journalist:
She lives alone but wants more space so that she can host her family and have a place for her hobby: gardening
Ella Carre:
All my life. I always love plant. I love a garden. That's one of the reason I want to own my own home. I rather have a bigger place, like I said, with my grandson and my great grandson. I'll have more room where he can run.
Hernz Laguerre Jr., Brick by Brick Journalist:
Sister Barbara Busch is the co-founder and executive director of win. She talks about the need for affordable housing in the area and the challenge ahead for the port.
Sr. Barbara Busch:
So a starter home that is in a price range that is somewhere between $140 and $200,000 is a necessity in terms of the Port. Sure we all learn in a process and they will be the first to tell you that they had never done anything like this. Learning how to rehab a whole chunk of buildings that they weren't expecting to rehab is difficult.
Hernz Laguerre Jr., Brick by Brick Journalist:
The Port is revitalizing these homes to create a pathway to home ownership. Andrew Fisher, senior construction associate of the Port, shares why the process might take longer than originally expected.
Andrew Fisher:
We really found out that we had to take a step back, reassess how we're going to prepare these homes for future sellers because we did not want to give homes to new residents. That looks great from the outside, but didn't have a hot water heater that was going to last more than four months.
Hernz Laguerre Jr., Brick by Brick Journalist:
Of the 194 homes purchased 110 are still renter-occupied. 71 are vacant, and more than a dozen have been sold. 33 of the vacant homes are renovated and ready for sale. Ella is hoping that the home that she's interested in comes on the market soon.
Ella Carre:
I'm ready. I'm trying to be patient. I'm praying like, you know, if it's for you, it'll come.
Hernz Laguerre Jr., Brick by Brick Journalist:
Shiobanne and Diego were patient as well. In October of 2023, the couple met Rachel Thompson, a real estate agent from the Greater Cincinnati Realtist Association. The realists are a group that works to secure equal housing opportunity for local residents. In the fall of 2023, the poor partnered with the realists in order to make home ownership more accessible and affordable to all Cincinnati residents, especially minority and first time buyers. The relatives are responsible for 25% of the port homes. Rachel has been working with Shiobanne and Diego for about a year to help them find a new home.
Rachel Thompson, Real-estate Agent:
I mean, a lot of properties we would see either at their price point, but because the interest rates kept changing so much, their affordability changed so much. So honestly, that's why this port property was absolutely a
Hernz Laguerre Jr., Brick by Brick Journalist:
Godsend. In October of 2023, Rachel reached out to Shiobanne and Diego with some new homes from the Port and Shiobanne responded,
Shiobanne Parra:
I'll look at it whenever I can. I started looking through a lot of the homes that they have on their upcoming homes or homes to be on the market and whatnot, and I said, oh my gosh, these homes look nice. I might as well jump and see what's on there.
Hernz Laguerre Jr., Brick by Brick Journalist:
Instead of having to bid, the Port financially met Shiobanne and Diego where they were.
Shiobanne Parra:
I was really excited about it because I knew that I wasn't going to have to give another offer on it, and I know that it is based off of your income.
Hernz Laguerre Jr., Brick by Brick Journalist:
I ask Rachel what it would mean for Shiobanne and Diego to finally get the keys to their home.
Rachel Thompson, Real-estate Agent:
Oh, that makes me so, makes you toe teary. I think it's going to be a lot for them. They're a family that's really deserving and their kids are always just so happy whenever I see them. A home full of memories that they can create is always really exciting.
Hernz Laguerre Jr., Brick by Brick Journalist:
On February 23rd, 2024, Shiobanne and Diego closed on their port home. They can finally call themselves homeowners.
Diego Raxuleu:
I feel right now. Relax. So we did already. We signed. Oh my
Shiobanne Parra:
Oh my God. I'm so relieved now. Because now I can walk into the house and be like, woohoo!
Ann Thompson:
Thanks for that story. Hernz. This is really a great opportunity for lots of folks. What are the requirements?
Hernz Laguerre Jr., Brick by Brick Journalist:
Yeah, so there's a lot of requirements and we have a lot more information on the web that you guys can check out, but I'll share a couple of, now you have to meet the A MI requirements, and that's area median income. The Port is offering these homes between 80 to 120-percent AMI and for a single person that's anywhere between 57,000 to 85,000. And for a family of four, that's between 81,000 to $122,000. And then the second thing is that they want you to live in the homes for five years. That's the requirement because they don't want you to buy the homes and just sell them immediately or rent them out. They want to encourage home ownership in the area.
Ann Thompson:
The journey to find a home for Shiobanne and Diego seems like it was a really long one. What do you think was their biggest hurdle?
Hernz Laguerre Jr., Brick by Brick Journalist:
We highlighted in the story being outbid was their biggest obstacle because they had a limited budget and there's a limited housing supply, which just didn't allow for too many options for them. And that's why honestly, the port was a godsend for them because they didn't have to stretch their budget to meet what the port was asking for. The port was able to meet them where they were. And then the second thing I wasn't able to add to the story, Shiobanne and Diego mentioned raising awareness for people with English as their second language. And I think that was super important just to let more people know about the program. But I reached out to Tom Milliken, and he shared with me that they work with community councils and W.I.N. to get translators so that they could make the message known to as many folks as possible.
Ann Thompson:
What's the latest on Ella Carre?
Hernz Laguerre Jr., Brick by Brick Journalist:
Not too many updates as of now. The house that she's waiting on is still now on the market, and like I shared in the story, because of the extra renovation that had to be done to these homes, it just prolonged the timeline. So she was waiting for the house this past July, 2023 where in February, she and her realtor are hoping that in the spring of 2024, the home will be ready.
Ann Thompson:
Very good. There's still quite a few renters in these homes. Is the ultimate goal to make them all homeowners?
Hernz Laguerre Jr., Brick by Brick Journalist:
That's what I thought going into the story; I automatically assumed that every single person wanted to be a homeowner, especially who were living in these homes. But Barbara Busch from W.I.N. assured me that that's not everyone's desire. It is either that people don't envision themselves as homeowners because they prefer the renter lifestyle. That's not where they're at right now in regards to raising funds. They have other things that they want to tend to or it is, like I said earlier, just not the desire to become a homeowner. So the only question that comes to mind: I just wonder what will become of their tenant status the longer that the port owns these homes.
Ann Thompson:
Thank you, Hernz. Yeah, we'll check in with you later.
Hernz Laguerre Jr., Brick by Brick Journalist:
No problem.
Ann Thompson:
There is somebody who would know the answer to the question, what happens to renters in those homes coming up on brick by brick? We'll sit down with the leader of the Port, Laura Brenner, to hear more about this approach to affordable housing, whether it will buy another batch of houses and what it's going to take for others to model this approach. Stay with us.
Voiceover (Underwriting):
Brick by Brick is made possible thanks to the generous support of so many, including Murray and Agnes Seasongood Good Government Foundation. Rosemary and Mark Schlachter, The Camden Foundation, Patty and Fred Heldman, DeeDee and Gary West, the Stephen H. Wilder Foundation, Judith and Thomas Thompson. A donation in memory of Frank and Margaret Linhart and more. Thank you. We couldn't do this work without you.
Hernz Laguerre Jr., Brick by Brick Journalist:
Hey, it's Hernz Lagguere Jr, one of the team members behind Brick by Brick, our new show is about solutions for a thriving community. But if you think about it, we all have a different perspective of what a thriving community should look like. That's why we need to hear from you. We want to know what a thriving community looks like to you. Maybe it's more housing, more parks or stores or even safer sidewalks. Whatever your vision, we hope you'll share with us. You can do that by heading to the Brick by Brick Show page on cetconnect.org or thinktv.org. There you'll find an audience question button - just fill out the survey and that's it. We look forward to sharing your hopes and dreams with the rest of our neighbors in future episodes. Thank you.
Laura Brunner (from U.S. Congressional testimony):
Housing development is not simply a byproduct of economic development, but rather an engine of economic stability and growth. Simply homes create long-term wealth
Ann Thompson:
On Capitol Hill providing testimony. That's the voice of the CEO of the Port of Greater Cincinnati. Laura Brenner, welcome back to Brick by Brick. Laura Brenner is with us now in the studio. Thank you, Laura for being here. Welcome to Brick by Brick.
Laura Brunner, CEO of The Port:
Thank you, Ann. It's great to be here.
Ann Thompson:
So many cities heard about your efforts when you spoke on Capitol Hill in 2022. I just want to play another quick clip. This is you describing why this is so important to you.
Laura Brunner (from U.S. Congressional testimony):
Housing and home ownership are the foundation of everything else in our lives and for too long. Redlining and segregation has stifled black residents from this opportunity. This has become increasingly hard today as institutional investors continue to crowd out the housing market across the country.
Ann Thompson:
That was the outlook a few years ago. Has the picture changed at all since then in your view? And do you still see the same issues as the core problems today?
Laura Brunner, CEO of The Port:
Unfortunately, I think the core problems are still there. The institutional investors might have decreased the pace of purchase of single family homes, but it is still a major asset class. And in Hamilton County, we know we have over 4,000 homes that are owned by just five institutional investors from other parts of the country, and they're targeted in neighborhoods - low-and-moderate income neighborhoods - where they have accumulated a significant percentage of the homes taking them off the market for new home buyers.
Ann Thompson:
Let's talk about the CARE program, which stands for Creating Affordable Real Estate. Your name for the partnership with the Realtist Association. How many homes have been sold and how many more are going on the market this year? So
Laura Brunner, CEO of The Port:
Just about exactly two years ago, we purchased a portfolio of 194 homes from one of these out-of-town institutional investors with the goal to convert them over time from rental to home ownership. And we've been working to stabilize the homes, stabilize the renters that are in the homes, and then start the renovation of the 60, approximately 60 vacant homes that we had at the time we purchased them. And then as you mentioned, we've recently entered into a partnership with the Realtists to sell to be our agent selling some of those homes. The rest of 'em will sell and market internally. To date, we've sold 14 homes after a complete renovation and have another seven under contract. Another seven are listed for sale, and we have plans over the course of this year to finish renovations on another 48 of those homes.
Ann Thompson:
Thank you for that. That is a lot of work. So as you mentioned then, some of these homes have and had tenants in them when you purchased them and you're fixing them up. So what is the Port's intention long term? I'm sure you probably don't want to remain as a landlord.
Laura Brunner, CEO of The Port:
Well, it'll be unlikely that we are a landlord for very many of them, but there could be two or three of the tenants that have been there for a long time that don't want to move, don't want to own. So there's a potential that we remain a landlord for a few of them because we want to be compassionate with the tenants that are in them. But we have engaged with a local nonprofit called W.I.N., Working in Neighborhoods to do home ownership and financial literacy training with the tenants to prepare them for ownership. So we have a number of those current tenants in that program now so that we can sell their homes to them in the future.
Ann Thompson:
And we're always wondering about the metrics of success. How do you define what success looks like for this initiative?
Laura Brunner, CEO of The Port:
Well, the ultimate goal is that we are selling the homes in good condition because they were in such poor condition when we purchase them. Our goal is to fix the homes up and sell them for home ownership. And so that's the ultimate success, is getting these homes converted from rental properties to home ownership.
Ann Thompson:
And one of the goals, I think that was stated with your partnership with the Realtists: increasing black home ownership.
Laura Brunner, CEO of The Port:
Yes. Well, clearly we want to increase, we want the people that are living inside these neighborhoods to have an opportunity for home ownership. And as I mentioned, these properties are often in low moderate income neighborhoods and unfortunately, many of them are minority, majority minority owned tenants or residents inside these neighborhoods. So we want to make sure that they're represented in the home ownership and the Realtists obviously are a good partner for us because they represent a number of potential home buyers that are minorities.
Ann Thompson:
I know it sounds like you have your hands full fixing up all these houses, but what about buying more homes from other institutional investors? For example, Vinebrook?
Laura Brunner, CEO of The Port:
Well, we would be very open to purchasing homes from Vinebrook. We'd love to see them decrease their concentration in Cincinnati of their rental property portfolio. We have in the last year purchased a portfolio of properties in Sedamsville. That's the other significant acquisition we've made since the CARE purchase, but we will remain open to other acquisitions in the future.
Ann Thompson:
Why is the Port able to do what it did and what are the limitations?
Laura Brunner, CEO of The Port:
Well, it's interesting. We were approached, I have received a phone call from Shannon Murphy who's the managing partner for the local Colliers real estate firm. Two and a half years ago, they as a firm were asked to be receivers for this portfolio of properties and he asked if we would be willing to bid on them. So their job as a receiver was to get a good sale price so that the debtors and investors could be paid off. So we bid against 12 other institutional investors in that acquisition. We were very much interested in taking advantage of this opportunity because we wanted to turn the tide from rental properties to home ownership inside of these neighborhoods. And the reason there are probably two different ways in which we were able to be effective. One is we've been in the residential market here for a long time.
The Land Bank has existed for 12 years. We have renovated and sold homes in these very same neighborhoods for a long time. So we know the markets, we understand construction, we understand the needs of the neighborhood to make it more productive. And then on the other side, because we're a public agency as a port authority, we're able to issue bonds. So that's the way we finance this acquisition is through the issuance of bonds. And the reason we were able to attract somebody to buy those bonds is that we have non-tax revenue. We've been successful in diversifying our revenue streams. And so we had an income stream that we could use as a pledge to the buyer of those bonds so A) we could issue the bonds. B) we had security for them in addition to the homes, and we knew the business of home renovation and construction.
Ann Thompson:
So you have received a lot of national press about this and various cities are looking at you and saying like, oh, I wish I could do that. For example, the president of the Toledo Land Bank, David Mann, said he thinks the Port is on the cutting edge and is writing the playbook, and he said he was jealous. What would you say to other cities who are interested in trying to do what you're doing?
Laura Brunner, CEO of The Port:
I would say go for it. It's not without a lot of effort. It has consumed an enormous amount of our staff time. But as somebody told us when we were considering this acquisition, we felt that we had a moral imperative to do it. I think every city needs to garner the resources within their community, find the right entity to be at the forefront of it and really dig in to solve the problem. We can't sit by idly and watch our home ownership opportunities be taken away from us.
Ann Thompson:
And I'm sure you've been receiving some calls from other cities, and can you name any of them?
Laura Brunner, CEO of The Port:
I've had personal calls with Kansas City, St. Louis and Milwaukee, and then as part of national organizations where we present on panels and share our case studies. I've talked to probably 20 other different cities in different capacities. So I know this is being considered across the country and I certainly hope that others follow our lead.
Ann Thompson:
Right. And as you continue on with the CARE program, what lessons are you taking away from this?
Laura Brunner, CEO of The Port:
Well, we know that we underestimated the condition of the properties. We estimated that we would need to spend about $25,000 per house fixing them up, but the condition of the properties was so bad that it's actually 80,000. So that's one lesson. We can't assume that people are living just because somebody's living in a house that's actually in decent shape. And that actually is a very sad realization that we've got housing stock not only here in Hamilton County, but probably across the country that is really not being maintained and we have to be careful. We've got this affordable housing problem out there. We can't have the current housing stock literally falling apart. And then the other lesson we learned is how fragile the tenants are. They've been abused for so long, they've had bad landlords that haven't taken care of them, and so there's a lack of trust that somebody really is trying to help them. And so that has really elevated the degree of compassion that we bring to this work.
Ann Thompson:
Well, it's certainly a big project and we will be following it along the way. Thank you so much for joining us. Laura Brenner, CEO of the Port.
Thank you for having me today, Ann.
And if you can't tell, the port's model is difficult to duplicate, but it's not impossible. Not many local governments have an agency set up this way. For example, a key Dayton area, affordable housing organization, county Corp has to partner with its own regional Port Authority and other agencies like Citywide to get the money it needs. But County Corp, vice President of Housing, Adam Blake, sees value in the way Cincinnati's port is set up. There could be ways County Corp could accomplish the same thing with its local partners, but it's harder to do since they're all separate entities.
Adam Blake, VP Housing, CountyCorp (Dayton):
Our community has to be more intentional about bringing all of the relevant players to the table to figure out how we can leverage the strengths of these organizations to solve these problems. I believe we have the resources in the community to at least identify strategies to solve these problems, but we're not being intentional about it.
Ann Thompson:
CountyCorp has been having some success in the Dayton region. Less than two years ago, it bought a portfolio of homes for $2.5 million dollars from an out of town investor with a plan to keep them affordable.
Adam Blake, VP Housing, CountyCorp (Dayton):
We have just recently purchased a hundred single family homes that were part of one of those investment partnerships where the residents hadn't, they told us, we haven't seen the property manager in three years. We've never seen a maintenance deck. A couple of the houses had literally burned down. Some of them had systemic water in the house, issues and other issues that impacted the residents health, but they were still paying the rent because they had to.
Ann Thompson:
Most of those 100 homes had renters and some units were uninhabitable. CountyCorp took over the properties, stabilized them, and is now helping the renters buy the houses they live in. Because those homes were originally built using low income housing tax credits, they have to remain affordable for another 15 years. So even if one of those renters bought the home they live in, they would still have to sell it at an affordable rate. CountyCorp's purpose with this program is not to promote house-flipping, it's to create home ownership among these renters.
Adam Blake, VP Housing, CountyCorp (Dayton):
After that first 15 years of affordability, those residents that are interested in becoming homeowners can then go through our programming at the Home Ownership Center and get set up for success as a homeowner. And in pretty much every case at the end of the day, they are now investing in themselves and their house payment is less than what they were paying in rent.
Ann Thompson:
This is the most Holmes County Corp has ever bought it once, and it more than doubled the number of properties in its inventory. So pretty interesting and something we'll keep an eye on at Brick by Brick,
Hernz Lagguerre Jr. has been standing by. Welcome back. Hey, hey, let's talk takeaways. I don't know about you, but what I've been noticing is that unfortunately, the problem of out-of-town landlords buying up properties... that is not going away.
Hernz Laguerre Jr., Brick by Brick Journalist:
Not at all.
Ann Thompson:
Just a handful of them own thousands of properties, both in Cincinnati and Dayton, and cities are having to get creative to try to keep properties affordable. And they're wondering what they can do. Some of them are looking to the Port, but it's unclear if they can mirror what the Port did.
Hernz Laguerre Jr., Brick by Brick Journalist:
And honestly, if you're trying to mirror what they did, you have to be brave because the Port only saw a small percentage of a portfolio and had to make a decision on the whole thing. And they realized the moment when they actually saw that home, the homes, they thought they only had A, B and C problems. They had the whole alphabet to worry about. A lot of things that they didn't expect, they had to accommodate for those things as well.
Ann Thompson:
Instead of spending the $25,000 they estimated per property, they had to spend about $88,000 putting them over budget by about $4.6 million.
Hernz Laguerre Jr., Brick by Brick Journalist:
Yeah. And I think that just prolongs the timeline. I spoke with Ella and one of the homes that she was waiting on to be on the market. It was supposed to be on the market in July. It's currently February. And that prolong it is honestly because there's more work to be done. The simple changes they thought they had to do, they realized that they had much more to fix within these homes.
Ann Thompson:
So Hernz, this is one of your first stories in Cincinnati and you have some local connections.
Hernz Laguerre Jr., Brick by Brick Journalist:
Yeah, yeah. Randomly in life, I'm reminded that I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be, and I had that experience twice in this story when I met Shiobanne and Diego, the moment Shiobanne said hello, I heard the New York-ness from her voice, and I'm from New York as well. Got a chance to sit down with Ella. Ella's Haitian. I'm Haitian as well. Very cool. Both of those things are a big part of my identity and on top of my own personal connections, I think a lot of people can connect with their stories. They're both trying to progress in life. Shiobanne and Diego, trying to be homeowners. Ella is trying to get a space that accommodates her in her pursuits and her hobbies, and they're both working within budgets in this tight market. No matter what your economic background is, no matter who you are, I think you can look into stories and relate to it.
Ann Thompson:
Good point. Thanks, Hernz.
Hernz Laguerre Jr., Brick by Brick Journalist:
Oh, thank you, Ann.
Ann Thompson:
Well, that's our show. Look for another episode in a few weeks. We're aiming to share solutions and reporting like this about twice a month on the podcast. You can also find on-demand audio, video and print stories as they're available on our webpage, which you can find@thinktv.org and CT connect.org. And of course, if you like the pod, please subscribe, rate and review wherever you download it. And share it with a friend or family member so we can all learn about these solutions, and figure out the best path forward together.
Looking ahead on Brick by Brick: Did you know Cincinnati is in the top 10 when it comes to office building to apartment conversions? Dayton also has a number of projects underway. How easy is it to do and how affordable is it? That's next time on Brick By Brick: Solutions for a Thriving Community.
For Hernz Laguerre Jr., I'm Ann Thompson. Stay well, and we'll speak again soon.
Our show is produced, hosted, and edited by me, Ann Thompson, with reporting and story editing from Hernz Laguerre Jr. Our executive producer is Mark Lammers. Our show consultant is Gloria Skurski. Gabe Wimberly is our audio engineer and mixer. Zach Kramer runs the lights and cameras. Derrick Smith is our production specialist, and Jason Garrison is our production manager. Kellie May heads up our marketing and promotions along with Mike Shea and Bridget Dillenburger. Elyssa Stephenson handles the website, and Steve Wright is our designer. Bill Dean and Andresj Kruza are the engineers for the show. And our chief content officer is Colin Scianamblo. Our music is from Universal Production Music. Brick by Brick: Solutions for a Thriving Community is a production of CET and ThinkTV, Southwest Ohio PBS Member Stations.