Zoning dictates how our communities are designed. For decades Cincinnati’s zoning has favored detached single-family homes. But with rising home prices and skyrocketing rents, the city looks to house more people through “missing middle” housing. On this episode of Brick by Brick we look at Cincinnati’s bold new zoning reform plan called Connected Communities and its potential impact. Brick by Brick Journalist Hernz Laguerre Jr. also investigates other cities which have tried similar zoning proposals to see what we can learn.
Interview guest: Cincinnati Councilmember Reggie Harris
Zoning dictates how our communities are designed. For decades Cincinnati’s zoning has favored detached single-family homes. But with rising home prices and skyrocketing rents, the city looks to house more people through “missing middle” housing. On this episode of Brick by Brick we look at Cincinnati’s bold new zoning reform plan called Connected Communities and its potential impact. Brick by Brick Journalist Hernz Laguerre Jr. also investigates other cities which have tried similar zoning proposals to see what we can learn.
Interview guest: Cincinnati Councilmember Reggie Harris
Ann Thompson (00:02):
Finding a place to live these days is hard. In Cincinnati, Dayton, and across the country, there aren't enough affordable houses and apartments to go around, and this lack of availability makes it expensive.
Myra Cates (00:14):
Housing or rent for houses is just skyrocketed so much to where, I mean, people can't afford to live in nicer places, nicer neighborhoods, and it's unfortunate.
Ann Thompson (00:25):
In response, cities are trying to add more kinds of housing and to do it, they're changing their zoning laws. Why? One reason is that in many cities, including our own, these laws favor single family houses and don't allow for what's called the missing middle. That's everything between a single family house and a large apartment building. Think duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, and townhouses.
Nathan Wright (00:50):
I live in a triplex now. If I wanted to build a house I live in, I'm not allowed to. Right? How do we recreate some of this way to build more housing in Cincinnati, which is lacking housing for people right now?
Ann Thompson (01:02):
Now, on today's episode, we examine a city proposed solution called connected communities. City leaders in Cincinnati say it's not just about building more housing, it's about housing more people.
Councilmember Reggie Harris (01:13):
For decades, many neighborhoods have not changed and change is uncomfortable. And so we are proposing something that will in a decade shift the landscape of existing neighborhoods.
Ann Thompson (01:28):
On this episode, we sit down with Councilmember Reggie Harris to explore the main facets of the plan. Then we'll take a look at how these kinds of reforms have been playing out in other cities around the country.
Meg McMahan (01:40):
The elimination of single family zoning has been one part of a much larger plan that's really looked at how do we increase the supply of housing in Minneapolis
Ann Thompson (01:49):
Later in the pod, encouraging the construction of middle housing is one thing, but is there developer buy-in? And if you're wondering how long before additional housing can make a difference at all levels. One national expert has studied it in 12 of the nation's largest cities.
Evan Mast (02:10):
If you put up say, 100 new, quote unquote, luxury apartments, that ultimately opens up something like 50 vacancies in below median income neighborhoods.
Ann Thompson (02:22):
So let's get into it. This is brick by brick Solutions for a thriving community.
Ame Clase (02:30):
Brick by break is made possible thanks to leading support from Deborah and Robert Chavez and Greater Cincinnati Foundation with additional major support from AES Ohio Foundation, Lauri Johnston, Susan Howarth Foundation, the George and Margaret McClain Foundation, Diane and Dave Moccia, The Dayton Foundation, the Robert and Adelle Schiff Family Foundation and more. Thank you.
Ann Thompson (03:00):
Hi, and welcome to Brick by Brick, where we're highlighting solutions for a thriving community in southwest Ohio. I'm your host Ann Thompson. Right now we're continuing to focus on solutions around the housing challenges in our region. We keep talking about it. One of the biggest problems is a lack of housing altogether. One national estimate puts the need for more housing at between four and 7 million units. Experts say we would have to build one and a half million homes every year to fill the gap. That's three times as many as we're building now, and we haven't done that since 2008. How did we get in this housing shortage situation? We built 18 and a half million homes in the US from 1975 to 1979, but from 2016 to 2019, we built less than 6 million locally. Only 18 of Cincinnati's 52 neighborhoods added housing between 2010 and 2020 according to a recent Chamber of Commerce report.
(04:03):
In fact, overall, the city lost 2000 units in that span. Various reports over the past decade have mentioned the city's gap and needed housing to be anywhere from 28 to more than 40,000. Looking at Dayton numbers, US census data shows the City of Dayton lost housing between the year 2000 and 2010. The housing data for the next decade was not available. However, a 2021 housing needs assessment conducted for the city and Montgomery County shows a projected need of more than 20,000 additional units by 2026. That's a combination of more than 8,600 for renters and more than 11,000 for those looking to own for both Cincinnati and Dayton. The need is greatest at the affordable level. The solution sounds simple, build more houses or apartments, but it's not quite that easy. Some say building more missing middle housing is key to solving the national housing shortage. Think row houses, duplexes and triplexes. However, like lots of other cities, Cincinnati has restrictive zoning laws favoring the building of detached single family homes, which it hopes to change. Mayor Aftab Pureval announced the city's proposed plan in January called Connected Communities.
Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval (05:20):
We have seen headline after headline in the national news about how quickly rents have risen in Cincinnati. Families have struggled to find an affordable quality home that they can be proud of. We know that there is a shortage of housing in Cincinnati. And importantly, we know that this challenge is linked to the fact that our zoning, the set of rules that dictates how our communities can be designed is capping the supply of houses and concentrating poverty in our city.
Ann Thompson (05:50):
So let's dig further into this plan. Cincinnati Councilmember Reggie Harris has been instrumental in developing connected communities with some of his colleagues. Thanks for being here. Councilman Harris. Welcome to Brick By Brick.
Councilmember Reggie Harris (06:02):
Oh, thank you for having me.
Ann Thompson (06:04):
I know this may be difficult, but in the simplest way you can, maybe you can, describe the various elements of connected communities where they are and if we could start with middle housing since that's the focus of this episode.
Councilmember Reggie Harris (06:16):
Sure. So Connected Communities is a people focused approach to land use and zoning reform. We think about connected communities in three domains, major transit corridors. Two of those corridors are north, south corridors that are regional transportation authority has designated as bus rapid transit lanes, so Redding Road and Hamilton Avenue, and then three east, west bus routes that are 24 hours. So that's one zone of the city. The second is neighborhood business districts. And so thinking about, we have 38 neighborhood business districts in the City of Cincinnati. Our neighborhood business districts are the lifeblood of many communities and then a few proposals that are citywide and we're looking to do a few things. One, relax regulatory barriers or regulations. And when you say regulations, you mean density. So the amount of units in a building height, the height of the building and setback the distance of the front of the building to the curb, and then parking, parking minimums.
(07:27):
And so currently we have a minimum number of parking space that are required for new developments. And what we have learned through trial and error and research and for what other cities have done is that sometimes those parking minimums create a burden on businesses and development, particularly around cost and space. And so we are simply looking at adapting those zoning requirements to be more conducive for building housing faster, building housing that's able to house more people and building housing that capitalizes on this region's investment in our public transportation system, which is also known as transit oriented development.
Ann Thompson (08:12):
So when we look at a map, we see most of these changes, as you mentioned, are along transit corridors and neighborhood business districts. Some wonder why the focus is this narrow.
Councilmember Reggie Harris (08:23):
So we came to this point with connected communities after an initial proposal about two years ago related to density and it failed. That proposal was a citywide sort of doubling of density requirements. And through robust community engagement, we recognize that an overwhelming majority of Cincinnatians are interested in and in favor of zoning changes around transit corridors and around neighborhood business districts and certain types of middle housing, specifically row homes. And so being responsive to community engagement, we crafted Connected Communities to address those issues. Neighborhood business districts need density to thrive. You need people living near neighborhood business districts in order to support current and future businesses. When you think about bus rapid transit lanes, you think about those routes. People take those routes to get to school, to get to work, and it's really convenient to have an abundance of housing located on transit corridors. Those align with some of our green Cincinnati plans and reducing our carbon footprint. They align with pedestrian safety plans because when we add bus rapid transit lanes, we're going to explore multimodal lanes, bike lanes, scooter lanes, walking lanes, et cetera. And so we see the opportunity to really connect many of our neighborhoods to one another with ease, but also to opportunity centers in the city.
Ann Thompson (10:03):
So collectively, what do you hope these changes would do or what would success look like? Some people might wonder is this more of a transportation and economic plan rather than a housing plan?
Councilmember Reggie Harris (10:14):
Yeah, so I would say it's a yes, and. When we think about zoning reform and zoning change, we are thinking about what does our city look like in 10 years? Zoning reform will show impacts in two, three years, but you really see the impacts of zoning reform 10 years down the line. What we hope to achieve and our goals are one, to create a process by which housing can be built quicker by not having to go through the zoning variance process, which is very lengthy and very expensive for every project. We also want to, as I say, capitalize on the investments we've made in public transportation. And so if you live on a bus rapid transit route, imagine having an abundance of housing for people who live on that route. It takes cars off the road, increases pedestrian safety, but then it also allows greater density for businesses that congregate on transit corridors and congregate in neighborhood business districts. And then many of our communities have expressed a more robust neighborhood business district and by simply creating the opportunity for more people to live nearby, we are then able to supply a customer base for the businesses. So it is a housing tool and it's also an economic development tool.
Ann Thompson (11:49):
We've attended some of the city's listening sessions and there are some people we've talked to that aren't completely sold on the plan. Have you heard concerns about it and is there a silent majority who are in favor of it?
Councilmember Reggie Harris (12:04):
That's a great question. So I want to answer this a couple ways. So there is overwhelming support for connected communities and in our robust engagement over the past two years working with partner organizations, people have really expressed a great support for this. I think the challenge that people are feeling, and I certainly do understand it, is that for decades, many neighborhoods have not changed and change is uncomfortable. And so we are proposing something that will in a decade shift the landscape of existing neighborhoods, but it will shift the landscape in a way that benefits the city, our economic base, people's ability to access neighborhoods that they hadn't otherwise accessed before.
Ann Thompson (12:58):
Given all the advocacy to find more subsidized housing, was there a reason that wasn't part of this plan or was it?
Councilmember Reggie Harris (13:05):
So actually incentivizing affordability is a part of Connected Communities. So one of the few citywide proposals is our height and our density and our parking bonuses for projects that receive low income housing tax credits. Low income housing tax credits since 2015 have made up 98% of our deeply subsidized units in our city. It's probably about 1500 units to our city since 2015. And there are strong regulatory requirements for LIHTC that helps ensure that the projects that receive those bonuses will remain affordable, deeply affordable to residents. And so that is how we are thinking about tackling affordability through zoning. But I want to be very clear that zoning actually is not a capital A affordable housing tool like direct subsidy zoning is something that can help create affordability and livability, but it isn't a capital A tool. Capital A tools for affordable housing are just direct subsidies to bring down those prices.
Ann Thompson (14:20):
So many people are familiar with redlining and housing discrimination. That was a result of government racial policies, zoning played a big part in that. How does connected communities help move us away from our segregated past and present?
Councilmember Reggie Harris (14:36):
So essentially… I love that question. Thank you for it. Part of redlining was the proliferation of single family zones and particularly single family zones that large lot sizes because when you think about housing per unit, it's the most expensive housing. And so if you begin to look at the correlation between access to capital and certain demographics, you can see that very clear racialized components, duplexes, triplexes are really great tools to affordable home ownership. The common story, and we see it all throughout our city, is that someone purchases a duplex and they live in one unit and they rent the other out. And fortunately banks allow rental income as a part of the application for mortgage. And so you can already see in a very practical sense that someone who maybe couldn't afford a $500,000 home may be able to afford maybe a $550,000 duplex because now they have the rental income to subsidize. And then you also see multi-generational people. So you think about three units and maybe there is a mom and her partner in one unit and then a sibling and their family and another unit, and then there's a grandparent. And so now you have three people in the family that have gone in on a piece of property. Multi-Generational living is a sort of universal experience we see, and particularly when we think about tools that help build middle class families, particularly black and brown families in the us, it is the ability to capitalize on multi-generational living.
Ann Thompson (16:35):
Thank you for that. I know that Connected Communities are many parts of this plan, and I want to let our listeners know that we'll have a link to the Connected Communities website on our website, cetconnect or thinktv.org as well. Thank you for your time. Thank you for being here on Brick by Brick Councilmember Harris.
Councilmember Reggie Harris (16:54):
Thank you for having me.
Ann Thompson (16:56):
As far as the timetable for these changes, city council plans to shepherd the plan through committee in the month of May to draft the actual policies and then aims to vote on the measures sometime in June. Other surrounding communities are following the progress of connected communities, including Dayton. Right now, Dayton wants to create more housing of all types and preserve what it already has. In 2022, the city formed committees to investigate housing development, housing preservation, and housing support. And over the years it says it has kept up with necessary zoning changes. Tony Kroeger is Dayton's planning division manager. He says making incremental changes is better to get resident buy-in. Even though from a planner's perspective, big changes could be splashier.
Tony Kroeger (17:42):
I love the idea of putting a brand on a big zoning reform and being able to say, look at this fundamental shift we've made. That's not the approach that we've taken and I think it's worked out well for us to occasionally consider changes that can be tested, can be brought on without making those who might be concerned too uncomfortable.
Ann Thompson (18:12):
Dayton did make big zoning changes back in 2006 and Kroeger says for that year, they were fairly progressive that year. Dayton changed its code to allow duplexes in traditional single family zoning districts. It also allowed attached single family housing units like row or town homes and said apartment buildings could stay in single family zone districts too.
Tony Kroeger (18:35):
In many parts of Dayton, you'll have apartment buildings that just happened to be smack dab in the middle of a single family zoning district. And in 2006, those buildings were zoned as single family. Well, that doesn't do a whole lot of good to encourage rehabilitation of those apartment buildings, and so we lowered the regulatory threshold to rehab those apartment buildings that are surrounded by single family homes so that they can be reused.
Ann Thompson (19:10):
Dayton looks at its zoning code every year. Recently it decided to allow ADUs on a conditional basis. Those are accessory dwelling units. Think Granny Flats or a small standalone house in somebody's yard. Kroeger says zoning shouldn't be an obstacle for things that make sense. Broadening our lens a bit. Cincinnati and Dayton are also inspired by other cities across the country, Brick by bricks. Hernz Laguerre Jr. Has been taking a closer look at cities such as Minneapolis, Buffalo and Tulsa to see how zoning changes have played out in those cities. Hey Hernz. Hey Ann. Hernz, so tell us a little bit about these other cities.
Hernz Laguerre Jr. (19:48):
Yeah, and I thought it was interesting to see how some other cities were dealing with the same invisible barriers to zoning that we were. I spoke to city planners in Minneapolis, Buffalo, and Tulsa, and they're at the forefront when it comes to zoning reform, essentially, meaning they've been at this for a while. Although these cities are different to us here in southwest Ohio, they share the same desire to retool their zoning laws to increase their housing supply. I think there's something we can learn from their approaches and outcomes. Take a listen.
Janne Flisrand (20:19):
Single family zoning is really a mandate and it's a mandate that every home built in that neighborhood be the most expensive kind of home possible.
Hernz Laguerre Jr. (20:27):
Janne Flisrand co-founder of Neighbors from our Neighbors in Minneapolis has been working in housing since the late nineties.
Janne Flisrand (20:34):
It's the zoning that makes us lose the opportunity to have really interesting and robust neighborhoods.
Hernz Laguerre Jr. (20:41):
While working at a drop-in afterschool program, Janne noticed some kids would stop showing up
Janne Flisrand (20:47):
And whenever I asked what happened, invariably it went back to something about housing insecurity.
Hernz Laguerre Jr. (20:54):
Like Cincinnati single family zoning was making it hard for residents to find housing they could afford in Minneapolis. So in 2018 as one part of the 2040 comprehensive plan, Minneapolis became the first American city to eliminate single family zoning planning director at the city of Minneapolis. Meg McMahon words it differently.
Meg McMahan (21:17):
We talk about it more as really increasing the opportunities for choice in neighborhoods and allowing for different and a more greater variety of types of housing products.
Hernz Laguerre Jr. (21:27):
According to McMahon, the legalization of multifamily housing has been underwhelming,
Meg McMahan (21:34):
But really I think in the broad scheme of things, it hasn't been the most impactful change that we've made
Hernz Laguerre Jr. (21:40):
Despite that there have been some small impacts they can attribute to zoning reforms.
Meg McMahan (21:45):
I do think we've seen that the land use reforms on a whole have helped increase the supply of housing in Minneapolis, and I think we've seen that the effect of that has had a downward pressure on market rents. I think it's probably too soon to be really specific about which reforms have had the most impact.
Hernz Laguerre Jr. (22:04):
One of the challenges McMahon points to is the building code. While you can now build duplexes and triplexes anywhere, developers still have to fit them in size and scope within the parameters of a typical single family lot.
Meg McMahan (22:20):
When you're developing single or two family housing, it falls under the residential building code, but anything that's three units or above is under the commercial building code,
Hernz Laguerre Jr. (22:29):
Which makes it tough for developers because there's a knowledge gap between single and multifamily housing. And honestly, developers across the country have been focused on single family housing for so long that doing anything else is foreign.
Chris Hawley (22:44):
I think we're still figuring it out.
Hernz Laguerre Jr. (22:46):
Chris Hawley, senior planner of the Division of Planning and Zoning in Buffalo, New York says our developers need more experience with multifamily housing to be the most effective in creating these homes.
Chris Hawley (22:58):
I think it'll take some time ultimately for our finance system for conventional developers to catch up and produce different types of housing that fit our community's needs better than the one size fits all. Single family and multifamily we typically see developed all over the country
Hernz Laguerre Jr. (23:15):
Since 2010 Buffalo has worked on their zoning reform known as the Green Code. It was officially adopted in 2017 with a citywide approach like Minneapolis, but different to how Cincinnati's approaching connected communities during those seven years and more than 200 meetings, city planners incorporated a zoning reform that resulted in,
Chris Hawley (23:37):
We saw a significant influx in mixed use projects, in particular in multiple units over shopfronts in what we called our neighborhood centers, our mixed use main streets, and in a lot more multifamily and residential neighborhoods.
Hernz Laguerre Jr. (23:54):
Buffalo didn't eliminate single family zoning. Only 4% of the city is now zoned for single family only. In the other 96%, they're creating more housing options.
Chris Hawley (24:06):
It's worked out pretty well and there are still some regulatory barriers we'd like to revisit within residential zones in particular, but there are no density restrictions any longer along our mixed use zones, our neighborhood centers and within our downtown, and that's where we've seen the bulk of our new investment
Hernz Laguerre Jr. (24:23):
Like Buffalo. Cincinnati is also planning to reduce density, setback, and height restrictions around business districts to spur investment. Buffalo took the citywide approach, but Tulsa, Oklahoma took an approach more like Cincinnati's connected communities with their neighborhood info overlay. Tulsa City planners like principal planner, Nathan Foster, conducted a housing study to address the various communities and their needs.
Nathan Foster (24:52):
What can we do to open up these housing types that we so desperately need and that these neighborhoods have told us they would be open to in their neighborhood?
Hernz Laguerre Jr. (25:02):
So in those study boundaries, developers could build duplexes, townhomes, triplexes, cottage houses or apartments up to a certain scale without having to go through any kind of zoning change or special approval process, which you would think would speed up the process. Right.
Nathan Foster (25:19):
So it's a slow unrolling. I think we've certainly seen duplexes take off. The amount of multifamily units we've seen has been a little bit slower. I think we've probably seen two to three projects come out of the ground that were maybe four or six units. The
Hernz Laguerre Jr. (25:36):
Slow roll has been a surprise to supporters of the reform and non-supporters alike.
Nathan Foster (25:42):
During our public discussions, I think the neighbors thought the minute this thing was adopted, all the single family homes were coming down and nothing but apartments were going to be lining the streets. And that's just not the, I think, economic reality of any of it.
Hernz Laguerre Jr. (25:56):
Developers and planners tell us these investments in housing take time to mature anywhere from two to five years to show impact. However, they're confident that the barriers being broken down by reforms like these will produce more housing in the
Nathan Foster (26:11):
End. So I expect we'll continue to see more interest and certainly some more development, especially as potentially construction costs might come down and people might be able to reengage on some of those projects they were interested in.
Hernz Laguerre Jr. (26:23):
So we're seeing a variety of results in these three cities when it comes to land issue reform, but there's another zoning change that is having the most impact.
Nathan Foster (26:33):
If you talk to people about zoning reform, parking is probably at the top of most lists.
Chris Hawley (26:37):
The elimination of minimum parking requirements was the single and most profound, I think, reform that was undertaken in the code more than I think anything else.
Meg McMahan (26:46):
It has been immensely impactful, has been the elimination of minimum parking requirements citywide,
Hernz Laguerre Jr. (26:52):
And it's good to remember the people that are affected by these zoning laws. Yana RAN has seen the effects that barriers and zoning have on residents and their housing options.
Janne Flisrand (27:03):
The folks who are members and neighbors from more neighbors are often folks who are 25 to 35 and they're feeling really squeezed oftentimes between being priced out of the neighborhoods they grew up in, being priced out of any sort of first time homeownership and not wanting to be the mechanism gentrifying neighborhoods,
Hernz Laguerre Jr. (27:27):
Regardless of the city. Zoning reform may not be a quick fix to remedy decades of barriers in housing. However, the current changes are offering more opportunities for residents like the ones in Minneapolis,
Janne Flisrand (27:39):
And they are seeing that the work we've done over the last six years is shifting things in Minneapolis and they are better able to find the kind of homes that they want to live in. So those folks are excited about what's happening.
Ann Thompson (27:53):
Thanks, Hernz. So it appears that these cities are showing some different results from their zoning changes. What are the next steps for these cities and what can Cincinnati and Dayton learn from them?
Hernz Laguerre Jr. (28:04):
Yeah, the main thing I took from these cities is that zoning reform in general could be a very slow process. Developers need to be on board so they can offer input about obstacles that could be avoided, such as the building codes issue. Minneapolis is dealing with, Tulsa is working with their developers on projects as they wait to see if construction costs go down. And even though a city like Buffalo is having success, their city planner even stated that they're still getting used to creating multifamily housing,
Ann Thompson (28:30):
And we know that the code isn't the only thing that slows everything down. It could be politics.
Hernz Laguerre Jr. (28:34):
Yeah, like many other issues, zoning reform has its opponents and supporters, so taking in the perspectives from both sides slows down the process a bit more. A great example of that is Minneapolis's elimination of the single family only housing. That ordinance is still being held up in court, which is slowing down their entire rollout.
Ann Thompson (28:54):
Thanks, Hernz. Good insights. We'll chat more later in the show. Some additional data to go along with Hearn's story. According to researchers at Pew Charitable Trust, Minneapolis added 12% to its housing stock in just five years. Clearly a key reason that rents have not skyrocketed there. Like in other places, it only went up 1% between 2017 and 2022. However, as Hearns mentioned, much of that new housing was larger and multifamily, not necessarily the missing middle housing type. When we come back on brick by brick, more on Cincinnati's Connected Communities, plus we visit some new middle housing in Avondale and get a developer's perspective, and then we talk to a researcher about the ripple effect of building all types of
Ame Clase (29:42):
Brick by Brick is made possible thanks to the generous support of so many, including Murray & Agnes Seasongood Good Government Foundation, Rosemary & Mark Schlachter, The Camden Foundation, Patty & Fred Heldman, DeeDee & Gary West, The Stephen H. Wilder Foundation, Judith & 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. (30:09):
Hey, it's Hernz Laguerre Jr., one of the team members behind Brick by Brick. Our new show is about solutions for our 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 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.
Ann Thompson (31:00):
Welcome back to Brick By Brick. The effectiveness of the changes made by this initiative might come down to developers and whether or not they are lined up to build the kind of additional housing the city wants. Brick by Brick tracked down one of those developers, Kai Lewars, founder of Kaiker Development, and he took us on a walking tour of the town homes. He partnered with the Avondale Community Development Corporation to build.
Kai Lewars (31:23):
So we're here in the core of Avondale, right down the street from Children's Hospital, UC, Uptown Digital Futures, the Recreation Center, all those things. On Hale Ave.
Ann Thompson (31:39):
Kaiker, and the Avondale Community Development Corporation built these seven townhomes on Hale Avenue with funding from Cincinnati Children's Hospital, the Cincinnati Development Fund, the Local Initiative Support Corporation or LISC and more. Lewars describes the three story attached homes with high-end finishes and appliances as workforce housing. The LISC price was about $300,000. He says, building middle housing like this is doable for other developers.
Kai Lewars (32:07):
I think there's plenty of room for others with an interest that are capable of facilitating similar services, but it starts with the zoning and having the product line to be feasible because there's a lot of red tape and development, and unless you're able to navigate that process and persevere through that process and dedicate the time and resources to that process on the front end, it can make everything fall apart.
Ann Thompson (32:31):
Lewars says there's a big need for this type of mental housing that can be built on vacant lots in the city. He says it's all about finding a place for people can call home.
Kai Lewars (32:40):
I wouldn't be the man I am today. I wouldn't be in the position that I'm in if it wasn't for home ownership. Home ownership was the catalyst in my life to really take it to the next level. So if I can pass that forward, very similar to the mentors who instilled that in me, it means the world to me
Ann Thompson (33:00):
A little farther down. Hale Avenue will be phase two of this project. Kaiker plans to build 14 more townhomes on an open set of lots there. If all goes well, those are expected to add to the housing supply sometime in 2025. One of the key ideas underneath the Connected Community strategy is that clearing the way for any new housing, whether it be income restricted, missing, middle or luxury units, can ultimately benefit the whole city in terms of availability and possibly affordability. Have you heard the term filtering? To learn more about this effect. We reached out to Notre Dame, researcher Evan Mass, who has studied this ripple effect and how it plays out in real life.
Evan Mast (33:50):
I move into the new building and that leaves vacant some other house somewhere else. But you could imagine that there are more rounds of this chain or more ripples because someone else is going to live in that house that I left vacant. And that means that in turn, some other house somewhere in Cincinnati is going be vacant. And you could imagine that each round of this chain takes you to a slightly lower price point, right?
Ann Thompson (34:18):
Specifically, he looked at market rate apartment living in 12 of the biggest cities nationwide, tracking address histories and how those apartments help create more housing at different income levels, even though he didn't study Cincinnati mast imagines how it would work here.
Evan Mast (34:35):
For example, suppose that I'm a new Procter and Gamble employee and I move into one of these buildings. That means that maybe there's some house a mile away that I otherwise would've lived in that's now vacant
Ann Thompson (34:47):
With each round, making more housing available at a lower price point. He says, but how long does this ripple effect take?
Evan Mast (34:56):
It’s hard to exactly measure the time that it takes for the chain to occur. But in my research I estimate that for a new building to affect below average income neighborhoods that would take somewhere between two and five years.
Ann Thompson (35:08):
So how do the numbers play out? For every 100 new market rate apartments, mass says 50 vacancies are created. Over the course of the study, he tracked the addresses of 52,000 residents and what happened to that housing? Over six iterations, there is a shortfall he points out in low income neighborhoods. Reducing demand through this migration chain is unlikely to lower costs because he says rents have likely already reached the bottom of the market.
Remember, if you're interested in learning more about Brick by Brick and want to read articles, hear the podcast and see Hearn's video stories, go to cetconnect.org and thinktv.org. You can also give us feedback or share an idea. We'd love to hear from you.
We welcome Hearns back time for takeaways. Cool. Hearns, what kind of resonated with you in terms of some of these zoning changes that other cities made?
Hernz Laguerre Jr. (36:05):
Yeah, and early on in this process, we spoke with President and CEO of the Greater Minnesota Housing Fund, Andrea, Brennan. She used to work in Minneapolis as Director of Community Planning and Economic Development. She told us that zoning reform isn't meant to be prescriptive for the housing shortage, but it is meant to eliminate invisible barriers of zoning that divided communities along racial lines, concentrated wealth and poverty in certain areas and has constricted the housing supply. And that's something that we saw in every single city that we interviewed. It's going to take us some time to see these changes change the decades of preexisting zoning laws
Ann Thompson (36:41):
And something else. As we drove around Cincinnati and Dayton, we noticed that there are plenty of do duplexes and town homes, and we wondered, well, when was it that Cincinnati changed its zoning laws to be more protective of detached single family homes? It turns out that you have to go way back to 1962, 1963, when Cincinnati for the first time, set rules around density. Also fascinating to me was that it spurred an effort to apparently awaken neighborhoods. According to the author of a book we read, Erwin Hoffman in 1963, only one community was organized and able to respond to these zoning changes, the North Avondale Neighborhood Association. But within the next decade, community councils were formed in all of the Cincinnati neighborhoods.
Hernz Laguerre Jr. (37:30):
Oh, wow. I didn't know that.
Ann Thompson (37:32):
And as you have said, many times, Hearns, the two of us are not experts, and we're continuing to learn. So our goal in this podcast is to help you, the listener, also learn, and we're going to continue to do that.
Hernz Laguerre Jr. (37:44):
Well said.
Ann Thompson (37:45):
Coming up on the next episode of Brick by Brick experts say the neighborhood segregation that many of our cities experience traces back to racist governmental policies.
Richard Rothstein (37:54):
We would not have a segregated society today if the federal government and state and local governments hadn't been imposed unconstitutional. Policies to require segregation.
Ann Thompson (38:05):
Brick by brick interviews the author of The Color of Law, Richard Rothstein, who painstakingly researched how it happened, his daughter and co-author Leah Rothstein also joins us to explain why it doesn't have to be that way. They share some solutions from their recent book. Just Action. That's next time on Brick by Brick.
(38:24):
That's our show. If you like what you hear, please rate and review our podcast. We hope you learn something. And if you did, please share it with your friends and family. For Herns Legger Jr. I'm Anne Thompson. We'll be back soon with more solutions. Take care.
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 Wimberley 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 Bridgett Dillenburger. Elyssa Stefenson 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 Think TV Southwest Ohio. PBS Member Stations.