HOUSING MUST BE A CITY PRIORITY

By Jane Anderson

This position paper describes a series of initiatives to promote affordable housing and home ownership in Cincinnati.

When I decided to run for City Council, I determined that housing would be an important issue in my campaign. Over the last three months, I have listened to housing professionals and advocates, and to developers from the neighborhood non-profit and for profit sectors in order to educate myself about this critical factor in the city's well being. During this same period, I also prepared and made public specific proposals that are outlined in this position paper. They include recommendations for a new comprehensive housing policy, a housing coordinator to facilitate City policies and programs, the beefing-up of several initiatives that encourage home ownership, and the creation of a special Housing Court that would better enforce the safety and health regulations within the Building Code. Here follows a synopsis of these proposals.

A New Comprehensive City Housing Policy

The first step that I will take when elected to Council will be a motion to establish a process for drafting a new comprehensive housing policy for the City. The City spends millions of dollars each year on various housing projects, but it currently lacks a framework for making knowledgeable decisions about where these funds will serve the greatest need. I have been out in the neighborhoods listening to citizens, housing groups, and developers, and they all say that the City needs to draw-up a plan that promotes neighborhood stability, home ownership, and additional affordable housing units for low to moderate income families.

At present, the City emphasizes projects designed to create more home ownership, while several years ago, it stressed increasing the supply of affordable housing units for low and moderate income residents. Both of these objectives are important for the city's future health, but they need to be pursued as part of an overall plan complete with benchmarks to measure successes and failures.

Back in 1989, the City drafted and adopted a "Housing Blueprint." A Blue Ribbon committee comprised of community leaders with housing knowledge and expertise worked with the city's Department of Neighborhood Housing and Conservation to develop that plan. The "Blueprint" included a series of specific goals, such as building and rehabbing 920 housing units annually for low-income families and individuals. We need to get back to that kind of goal setting, but we also need to give that process some implementation teeth.

I propose that a similar process be established now. We have plenty of local expertise in every phase of housing to put together another "Blue Ribbon" commission that would work with the Department of Neighborhood Housing Services and City Council to develop a comprehensive plan. Although the City is only one player in a housing field that includes the non-profit and for-profit private sectors, City government, nevertheless, is the proper vehicle for establishing a public vision and implementation plan.

Establishing a Housing Coordinator

After the City drafts a new comprehensive housing policy, the next step is to insure that the plan becomes a reality. I propose that the City establish a special Housing Coordinator. The Coordinator's job description would be to coordinate the various City departments and agencies that are involved in some way with housing. A quick review of the current situation reveals that the Building Department, the City Planning Commission, the Department of Neighborhood Services, the Economic Development Department, the Health Department and the Water Works Department are agencies that developers must deal with when considering a housing project. Faced with this kind of uncoordinated labyrinth of departments and regulations, is it any wonder that developers often swear off doing projects in the City?

Besides coordinating and making sense out of the City's various housing programs and services, the Coordinator would be charged with facilitating and implementing specific housing projects. The City allocates millions of dollars for various housing developments, and we need someone with the authority to oversee how these projects are completed in a timely fashion. Once the Coordinator position is established and a competent person is hired for the job, Council should appropriate or lobby for the necessary funds - federal, state, and local - and then get out of the way.

Promoting A Program That Supports Home Ownership

City officials in recent years have talked a lot about increasing and stabilizing home ownership in our neighborhoods. Nevertheless, the City currently neglects a program that supports this goal. The Tax Exemption Program for major home improvements remains unknown to most Cincinnati residents.

City Council established the Tax Exemption Program in 1993. This program covers major home improvements for owner-occupied one and two family housing in Cincinnati. Homeowners who provide the City with the necessary information about their capital improvements qualify for a tax exemption for the increased value of their house.

The Program has the potential to help maintain and improve the city's housing stock and to promote stable residential neighborhoods that will attract new homeowners. However, the Department of Neighborhood Services reports that only about one-hundred tax payers per year apply for this exemption; a number far short of its potential. Furthermore, the exemption is not mentioned in the Department's description of services.

I propose that the City conduct a vigorous public relations campaign to make homeowners aware of the Tax Exemption Program. Besides more publicity about the Program in the media, information about it needs to be made available to public libraries, churches, local hardware stores, community councils, neighborhood business associations, unions, and schools. Finally, the City should work with the Board of Realtors to educate real estate agents and brokers about the potentials of this tax exemption. With improved marketing of the Program, City Government, homeowners, and Cincinnati residents in general will come out winners.

Several other programs that promote home ownership should continue to receive City support. "City Rama" has produced new housing that helped renew the Betts Longworth area and the West End, and this initiative needs to be kept going in both low and middle income neighborhoods.

In addition the creation of a one-stop "Home Ownership Center" for easy access to neighborhood information and housing opportunities will help attract new residents and assist current renters who wish to become home owners. A complement to this Center would be the proposed marketing campaign, "Cincinnati - A Place To Call Home." The campaign plans to advertise the city's neighborhoods to prospective home buyers with a Web Site on the Internet.

Through its annual federal Community Development Block Grant, the City should maintain its grants that assist low-income families to become homeowners. For instance, down payment assistance to families through organizations such as the Shuttlesworth Housing Foundation and below market mortgage loans through Neighborhood Housing Services are important resources for first-time home buyers. Meanwhile, the Better Housing League sponsors several home ownership retention programs such as counseling for first-time home owners and emergency grants to families needing to make mortgage or utility payments.

Creating A Special Housing Court

Cincinnati would benefit from the creation of a special Housing Court. City Council should work with our local State legislators to advocate that the Ohio General Assembly establish such a Court here. The Housing Court would handle and specialize in all legal cases involving the health, safety, and welfare of housing occupants and cases involving the enforcement of the Housing Code.

Such a Court would enable local judges to achieve a greater understanding of the law governing landlords and tenants. The Court's attention would not be diverted by unrelated matters; allowing judges to give their full attention to reviewing claims of housing code violations and, thus, providing speedier resolutions to cases that today, due to over crowded court dockets, often drag on for long periods of time.

Another important facet of a Housing Court would be an effective mediation process. The Court should be adequately funded and structured to provide housing specialists who would mediate and guide landlords and tenants attempting to settle disputes out of Court. Currently, settlement negotiations take place without expertise and supervision in County Court House hallways during the few minutes allowed by the Courts when they are in session. Providing mediation assistance would lessen the number of landlords and tenants who presently agree to settlements they do not understand, and cannot keep.

Providing a focus and a process for dealing with legal cases related to housing will help the City deal more effectively with problems of building deterioration and abandonment. The Court would be an effective vehicle for helping to stabilize and renew housing in older Cincinnati neighborhoods. The Ohio General Assembly already created Housing Courts in Cleveland and Toledo, and once elected to Council, I will work to get such a Court established in Cincinnati.

Conclusion

These recommendations and proposals constitute what my approach to housing would be as a member of Cincinnati City Council. As previously stated, I believe housing must be a top priority for the City in the coming years. Back in 1949, Senator Robert A. Taft, a life-long Cincinnati resident, told his Senate colleagues that he was sponsoring the federal housing act of that year in order to achieve the goal of "a decent home and suitable living environment for every family." That goal is as worthy today as it was in 1949. The federal government's commitment to housing, however, has declined in recent years, and that fact makes the City's role so much more critical. Therefore, when I am elected to Council, I will push hard for a comprehensive housing policy with a full implementation action plan.