CMHA asks Hamilton County for $2M to preserve units and $185,000 to prevent evictions
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Summary
Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority CEO Gregory Johnson asked commissioners to fund a $2.0—2.1 million preservation package for 9 scattered-site units and a $185,000 eviction-prevention pool to help about 100 families bridge to vouchers; commissioners expressed interest and asked staff to explore available county ARPA and CDF funds.
Gregory Johnson, CEO of Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing (CMHA), presented a two-part funding request to Hamilton County commissioners on Jan. 13: roughly $2.0—2.1 million in grant funding to preserve nine scattered-site affordable units (part of a 27-unit preservation effort) and a $185,000 short-term pool to prevent evictions while families move through CMHA's voucher referral process.
Johnson said CMHA currently serves about 39,000 people across programs in Hamilton County and that the authority's voucher portfolio is roughly 11,800 vouchers with an average subsidy of about $900 per household per month. He described recent preservation work (about $264 million of improvements across 1,500 units) and said the nine units under discussion would need a little over $4.0 million of investment in total, with the county request positioned as grant gap-filling to keep the properties affordable long term.
On eviction prevention, Johnson said a $185,000 county contribution could provide short-term rent assistance to roughly 100 families while they are assessed and placed on a voucher, preventing emergency shelter use and reducing associated public costs. He said the approach would leverage CMHA's existing referral partnerships and long-term voucher funding once families qualify.
Commissioners reacted positively but asked staff to check funding sources and timelines. Vice President Reese and Commissioner Driehaus said the $185,000 ask could be a near-term priority and suggested exploring remaining Community Development Fund (CDF) and ARPA round balances; staff confirmed some ARPA-funded projects remain and that timing and spending deadlines (some funds must be expended by 2026) will affect options. Johnson also outlined progress on tiny-home proposals for veterans and noted the VA is engaged on veteran voucher coordination.
Next steps included staff research on available county funds, an administrator report back to the board, and exploring whether CDF could pilot the eviction-prevention pool or apply county ARPA rounds to the preservation request. No formal appropriation was made at the meeting.