Modern day construction hasn’t solved the problem of toxic housing. On top of old school irritants like mold, lead and asbestos, some new homes and apartments could contain enough formaldehyde to cause significant lung damage over time. Efforts...

Property taxes date back to at least the 1600s, making up an average 70 percent of local government revenue. They pay for schools, police, fire, infrastructure and more. But as property values increase so do property taxes, pricing some people ...

In a live recorded Brick by Brick event with our partners at the Dayton Metro Library and Dayton Daily News, key decision makers and community activists came together. They talked state of the neighborhoods, a new vision for the city, the role ...

COVID reminded scientific researcher and author M. Nils Peterson that multigenerational living does work and people used to do it more often. He sees it as a way to control urban sprawl and preserve the nature we so desperately need. One way is...

Subsidized permanent housing is no longer a given for the chronically homeless. Instead, the government is directing more than $3 billion in funds to pay for transitional housing, addiction treatment and state outreach. Not everybody is on boar...

 Some foodbanks broke records during the government shutdown for the amount of food they handed out. SNAP benefits were suspended temporarily, and its requirements have changed. Although the need has eased slightly, food insecurity remains...

 Millions of people live in a medical desert, meaning they have inadequate access to healthcare, both in urban and rural settings. There are a variety of reasons why, including distance to a hospital, lack of broadband internet, lack of tr...

At the current rate of construction, estimates predict it will take seven years to close the housing gap. The U.S. is still short about 4 million units. The problem is hitting home. After more than a decade of inflated home prices, states, incl...

Residents don’t want to have development done to them and instead want to be part of it. One example involves the conversion of an old chemical plant in West Louisville, Kentucky into affordable housing. Another is in Carmel, Indiana where neig...

 The World Health Organization has set a goal of decreasing pedestrian deaths and injuries by 50-percent in five years. At least in the U.S., there’s not a lot of progress. According to 2023 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration s...

U.S. consumers spent on average $1,760 on electricity in 2023, second only to gasoline. And those residential electricity costs are expected to increase 13-18 percent by 2026. Why? Blame it on infrastructure changes needed for data centers. The...

Nearly 50 million people in the U.S. don’t have enough food to eat and what they do have probably isn’t the most nutritious, leading to possible health problems later in life. Food banks and food rescue organizations are helping (we’ll cover th...

Housing growth in Dayton has typically been divided by the river and real estate developer Tim Forbess wants to change that. One example is the historic Longfellow School which he’s transforming into a housing community with a...

Geoff Milz is the Director of Development for Pennrose in Cincinnati, Ohio. His organization specializes in developing and managing affordable, conventional, and mixed income residential properties. He stresse the importance of creating more in...

Developer Kai Lewars specializes in the “missing middle” housing some say Cincinnati so badly needs. The city made it easier to develop duplexes, triplexes, rowhouses, and more under 2024 zoning changes. Lewars finds vacant lots and works with ...

It was the spring of 2024 when Brick by Brick began reporting on solutions that could potentially increase the housing supply and make it more affordable. Thirty-two episodes later we look back at how well some of those ideas worked; focusing o...

Contentious debates can arise in cities around adding housing or development in neighborhoods, but what power do everyday residents have? From Dayton’s Five Oaks to Cincinnati’s Hyde Park these issues have bubbled up recently, so we want to exp...

Housing is an extra challenge for hundreds of thousands of people, who are released from prison every year in the U.S., millions more leave local jails. The barriers they face are enormous. But some communities are working to expand access and ...

Religious organizations are some of the biggest landholders in the country and communities are increasingly looking to them to help solve the housing crisis. Some efforts are already underway but churches say they need zoning help to build on t...

It’s getting increasingly harder to find an affordable place to live. Sky- high rents, fluctuating mortgage rates, expensive home prices and a shortage of housing are all contributing factors. Every year there are incentives for banks to create...

If the U.S. builds as many homes as it did last year, experts predict it will take an average of seven and a half years to close the housing gap. How do we speed up construction? One way might be to increase the production of 3D printed houses....

Vacant land owned by the government may be able to help ease the housing gap. Most of it near urban areas and transit lines, is controlled by local governments. And with the help of the Center for Geospatial Solutions (CGS), communities are sta...

Responding to a study in 2023, Northern Kentucky is trying to increase their housing stock. Local leaders and non-profits collaborated to create a menu of options called Home for All: Northern Kentucky Housing Strategies. We look at so...

More than half of Americans say they would consider living in a tiny home, defined as large as 600 square feet. As traditional homes get more expensive the interest is increasing. Also, many see tiny homes as a possible solution to homelessness...

The federal government gives developers the equivalent of $10 billion a year to build low-income housing in the form of a tax credit. Without this government subsidy, known generally as Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC), there would be a l...