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Kristin Baker, executive director of LISC, says the median sale price for a single-family home in some areas has roughly doubled in the last five years. In Norwood, as an example, housing prices have gone from a median of $97,500 in 2014 all the way up to $185,000 in 2020, Baker said. We re seeing more out-of-town investors and buyers purchasing these single-family homes, so just because the sales prices are increasing does not mean they are continuing to be home ownership opportunities.
Baker says code compliance can be difficult with these real estate investment trusts, but the county can help smaller communities with enforcement.
Vice Mayor Christopher Smitherman is chair of City Council s new Affordable Housing Subcommittee. I think it s important that if we re using numbers, we at least know that we re using 2010 numbers in 2021, Smitherman said in late March. And we don t know; those numbers could be bigger, those numbers could be smaller.
Michael Jones, a professor of economics at the University of Cincinnati, thinks the gap is quite a bit smaller. He researches labor and public economics, and says he got interested in housing after reading a WVXU article about council members wanting more recent data.
He decided to take a look for himself, and presented his findings to the subcommittee in mid-April. His analysis is based on a report published in March from the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
Reed Saxon / AP
Affordable housing has become a hot-button issue in Greater Cincinnati over the last few years, garnering media attention, promises from elected officials and no small amount of debate.
That debate is culminating in a ballot initiative called Issue 3 that is before Cincinnati voters May 4. If passed, it would require the city to spend $50 million a year on affordable housing.
Research has shown rising rents and big gaps between the number of available rental housing units and area residents, especially those with low incomes looking for housing they can afford in Hamilton County. Some skeptics question the exact number of units needed, however, and there is little consensus on how to address that need.