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Advocates present roadmap as data show low Black homeownership in Cincinnati
Summary
Housing Opportunities Made Equal told the City Council youth and human services committee that Cincinnati's overall homeownership rate is about 40%, with roughly 51% of white households and about 25% of Black households owning homes; the group urged six policy changes to expand and preserve Black homeownership.
Housing Opportunities Made Equal (HOME) told the Cincinnati City Council youth and human services committee on Friday that the city's Black homeownership rate lags the region and that a six-point roadmap of policy changes is needed to increase and preserve ownership.
"In the City Of Cincinnati, homeownership overall is about 40%," Elizabeth Rich, executive director of HOME, said during a presentation. "About 51% of white households are homeowners compared to 25% of Black homeowners." Rich and Latanya Springs, HOME's assistant director, said those figures come from recent census and HMDA data and that the gap persists across neighborhoods.
HOME described a set of six policy recommendations in its updated roadmap: expand lending to Black and low-income borrowers, establish a loan-and-grant fund for existing low- and moderate-income owners, modify zoning to enable middle‑housing and owner-occupied options, provide property-tax relief for low-income homeowners, adjust tax-abatement incentives to better support Black homeowners, and create a formal monitoring process to track progress.
The organization presented HMDA-derived findings showing that in Hamilton County in 2024 roughly 20% of loan applications and about 16% of loan originations went to Black borrowers, while denial rates were ‘‘about twice as likely’’ for Black applicants overall and, among upper‑income applicants, nearly four times the denial rate for white applicants (HOME cited 19% denial for upper‑income Black applicants vs. 5% for comparable white applicants).
HOME officials framed the recommendations as a mix of programmatic fixes and local policy levers: special‑purpose credit programs and down‑payment assistance to address upfront costs; increased funding for home‑repair and foreclosure‑prevention grants; appraisal‑bias and enforcement work to ensure fair valuations; and municipal tools such as responsible‑banking ordinances or using city deposits to encourage equitable lending practices.
Vice Chair Evan Nolan pressed HOME on the regional trends and whether the apparent narrowing of the metropolitan statistical area gap reflected changes in numerator or denominator. "My understanding is that gap has decreased because the number of Black homeowners increased in the region," HOME responded, while other staff noted that MSA figures include Indiana and Kentucky jurisdictions and that local population shifts also affect percentages.
Council members said they would follow up on details; the presenters said the full updated roadmap will post online in the coming weeks and offered a QR code and contact information for the executive director. The committee approved and filed the presentation for the record.
