Adrianne Todman, acting secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), visited with local leaders in Cincinnati this week to talk about ways to address an affordable housing shortage in the city and across the state of Ohio, according to local reporting by the Cincinnati City Beat.
With an estimated affordable housing shortage of 4 million to 7 million units in the U.S., according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), Todman met with local leaders as well as area Congressman Greg Landsman (D) to discuss the local perspectives of the problem. In surrounding Hamilton County, Ohio, the shortage of affordable units is estimated at roughly 40,000.
“For most families, housing has become a very difficult part of their financial life, whether it’s rent going up or it’s a mortgage that they’re struggling to pay,” Landsman said on Tuesday. “Property taxes here have become a huge issue. But we’ve got to work with HUD and state and local leaders to build way more housing.”
Landsman said he pushed for federal leaders in Washington, D.C., to come to southwest Ohio and see firsthand how federal dollars are being put to use to address the housing gap.
For her part, Todman mentioned the housing supply action plan announced by the Biden-Harris administration in 2022. She also discussed the important role that city partnerships can play in addressing the full scope of the supply issues that afflict municipalities and the country at large.
“One of the reasons I’m here is to understand what the very unique needs of Cincinnati are and to be able to talk about the tools HUD has to address those needs — whether it’s building more units for people to rent, building more units for people to purchase, whether it’s rental assistance, […] whether it’s folks who want to become first-time homeowners and just don’t know where to begin — HUD is here as a partner to get all of that done,” she said.
The meeting followed news late last week from HUD regarding affordable housing action in the state of Illinois. The department announced “the completion of a nearly $28 million Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) transaction with the Waukegan Housing Authority (WHA), to expand affordable housing options for low-income seniors in Waukegan, Illinois.”
That transaction specifically targeted Waukegan’s low-income senior population, Todman said.
“The Biden-Harris Administration and HUD are committed to ensuring our country’s seniors can afford their homes and age with dignity — that means both building and preserving affordable homes in their communities,” she explained on Aug. 2.
