Photo By Jymi Bolden

Councilman John Cranley opposed housing recommendations that seemed in sync with his own goal.

When a county commissioner compares the federal housing program to Godzilla, you know recommendations to spread low-income housing into the burbs won't go over well.

"The government is taking money from all sectors, creating this monstrous bureaucracy called Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that, like a monster out of a Japanese horror film, goes around swallowing up neighborhoods -- and there's nothing that local officials like me can do to stop it," says Hamilton County Commissioner Phil Heimlich.

That's why he "respectfully" doesn't support extending subsidized housing throughout the county. As of 2001, more than 13 percent of all housing units in the city of Cincinnati were funded with public assistance, compared to 1.5 percent in the rest of the county, according to Cincinnati City Councilwoman Laketa Cole.

Increasing the number of affordable rental units in areas where there are few and in low-poverty neighborhoods were among the 11 recommendations to come out of a year's work by the Housing Advisory Council (HAC).

The group's co-chairs were Heimlich, City Councilman David Crowley and Chip Gerhardt, chair of the board of the Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA). Heimlich resigned his post, saying he couldn't attend the meetings because he has a baby and other time conflicts.

As a county commissioner, he objects to the HAC's final report.

"It's generally my belief that subsidized housing has had a very negative effect on the communities it goes into," Heimlich says. "Take a look at Price Hill and Westwood and how they've suffered from the influx of Section 8 housing."

Inflaming the suburbs
The HAC came about partly because of concern over the high concentration of low-income people using housing vouchers, previously known as "Section 8," to move into neighborhoods such as Price Hill and Westwood.

HUD defines "low income" as less than 80 percent of the area's median family income. In 2002, for instance, the median income for a four-person family in the Cincinnati area was $64,300, so "low income" means a family earning $51,440 or less. Thirty percent of the median income -- about $19,300 -- roughly defines the federal poverty level.

Forming the HAC was part of the city's 2003 agreement with CMHA, which administers housing vouchers and other subsidized housing programs. The deal prevented CMHA from razing the English Woods public housing development (see "Out of the Woods," issue of June 30-July 6). A lawsuit against CMHA by residents is proceeding in federal court.

Other recommendations from HAC include keeping a closer eye on predatory lending and creating incentives for high-quality landlords to rent to low-income families.

Councilman John Cranley was the only Democrat on council to vote against the recommendations.

Photo By Jymi Bolden

County Commissioner Phil Heimlich has no intention of encouraging subsidized housing.

"What I believe we should be doing with our federal dollars is improving the quality of our existing affordable housing units so they're not lost to disrepair or abandonment or neglect," he says.

He says HAC's recommendations would suggest that the city and CMHA put their efforts into new housing rather than fixing up existing housing.

Cranley says the recommendations also aren't specific about which neighborhoods are to take on more assisted housing. Putting subsidized housing in Oakley and Hyde Park isn't the answer, he says.

During the Nov. 22 council meeting, Councilwoman Laketa Cole accused Cranley of "scare tactics." Council members had had more than five months and three committee hearings on the HAC findings but were only now raising objections, she said.

In 2001 Cranley pushed the idea of spreading subsidized housing throughout the county (see "Porkopolis," issue of Oct. 11-17, 2001). But now he argues that HAC's recommendations drive an unnecessary wedge between the city and the county.

"I think that sitting around in a Housing Advisory Council between the two entities, CMHA and the city -- both of them at least state that they want more dispersed throughout into the suburbs and neither of us have the power to do it," Cranley says. "It's a waste. And in the meantime it inflames people in the suburbs, because they think that we can do things that we can't do."

Mayor Charlie Luken told council the recommendations might be perceived as "arrogant" on the city's part.

Crowley calls Cranley's interpretation a deliberate misrepresentation. He cites an e-mail Cranley wrote alleging HAC's plan would continue to concentrate affordable housing.

"It's completely the opposite," Crowley says. "The whole idea (is) to make sure we don't do that."

Rolling down from Indian Hill
Pat DeWine was the only other council member to oppose the HAC recommendations. Because he takes office as one of three county commissioners in January, the chances of the county approving the recommendations are about nil.

It's not that the HAC didn't seek county involvement. Crowley says he initially approached County Commissioner John Dowlin to serve on HAC. Dowlin instead agreed to send the county's housing director, who was "very helpful providing technical observations and input," Crowley says.

"The county has moved toward making Section 8 opportunities available, moreso than they get credit for," he says.

Photo By Anthony Antal

City councilman Pat DeWine opposed the recommendations. Soon to be a county commissioner, he'll likely do it again.

He hopes the county might still be amenable to parts of the plan. Many HAC members will stay on to oversee the plan's implementation.

It's up to the city administration to figure out how the plan jibes with the city's budgeting of its federal housing dollars.

County resistance wasn't a surprise, according to Lois Day, a Madisonville activist who served on the council.

"I don't think any of us are delusional enough to think we're going to change the world here," she says. "I think we all see this as baby steps that need to be taken at some point."

Madisonville is home to its share of low-income housing. Day says one of HAC's recommendations is to challenge the perception that increased concentrations of subsidized and affordable housing increase crime.

"I'm not sure how correct that correlation is," Day says. "The majority of drug purchasers who come to Madisonville to buy their junk come from other neighborhoods. We have a continuous flow of cars that come from Clermont County, Brown County, Adams County and people who roll down the hill from Indian Hill and Kenwood and Madeira. It's people on the way to work. It's moms in cars with their kids in the back. Does that mean that (Madisonville) is more crime-ridden than Indian Hill? No, not really."

Day says the crime rate in Madisonville is lower than in Anderson Township, which has turned down federal funding in order to keep out subsidized housing. ©