The governor handed the affordable-housing industry a mix of defeat and hope on Friday, Jan. 6, when he left controversial amendments intact in a major spending bill.
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced that 18 historic buildings in Northeast Ohio will receive a tax credit from the Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credit Program.
The long-empty Warner & Swasey complex, slated to become mixed-income housing, was one of 18 Northeast Ohio projects to secure competitive tax credits this week.
Last-minute additions to House Bill 45 would change the way county auditors establish values for affordable-housing properties. They also would prohibit developers of low-income housing from using state historic preservation tax credits as part of their financing.
The Ohio Department of Development recently tweaked the scoring rubric for the fiercely competitive program, allocating points to affordable-housing deals. Developers of those challenging projects are ecstatic. But some of their market-rate peers are fuming.