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âWe are a movement:â Issue 3 backers pledge to continue despite resounding defeat
Where do Cincinnatiâs affordable-housing advocates go from here? Itâs a question they appear to be asking themselves.
Issue 3 fails on ballot By Morgan Parrish and Brian Planalp | May 5, 2021 at 6:23 PM EDT - Updated May 13 at 11:32 AM
CINCINNATI (FOX19) - Cincinnati voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly rejected an affordable housing charter amendment, sending the issueâs supporters back to the drawing board on one the cityâs most pressing needs.
Issue 3 would have required that city council appropriate $50 million to affordable housing every year.
Supporters say it took five years to get the amendment on the ballot. It garnered just 27 percent of the vote.
Issue 3 was designed to add a new article to Cincinnati’s City Charter. The language did not specify where the money would come from but suggested several potential funding sources, including the city’s $400 million general fund.
Ambriehl Crutchfield / WVXU
The affordable housing charter amendment on Cincinnati s Tuesday ballot failed with about 73% of the vote in opposition. Issue 3 would have required the city to put at least $50 million in the Affordable Housing Trust Fund every year with no end date.
Advocates say they re not done fighting for more funding to respond to the housing crisis. We knew that no matter how the results turned out this evening, our work for affordable housing would not end tonight, said Josh Spring, director of the Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition. Unlike typical campaigns that are run by PR firms with glossy cards, we re a movement, and movements don t stop until they get where they re supposed to be.
Ann Thompson / WVXU
Cincinnati voters on Tuesday will choose the final two candidates for mayor and decide the fate of three charter amendments. But most of Hamilton County has no primary election May 4.
Early voting has been taking place since April 6 and continues through Monday, May 3, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Hamilton County Board of Elections in Norwood. On Election Day, May 4, polls are open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. You can find your polling place here.
The last day to register to vote was April 5. Check to see if you are registered here. If you are not registered, you can do so now online; print a form and mail it in; or visit any public library or BMV. You will not be eligible to vote in this primary election. If you want to vote in November, you must be registered 30 days prior to Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 2.