In an opinion piece for the Cincinnati Enquirer, Kristen Baker, the executive director of LISC Greater Cincinnati highlights the holistic approach used by Cincinnati’s West End community that “can be a catalyst to guide investments that creates an equitable, safe, community that supports everyone.” Drawing from the experience of being a co-lead for the region’s West End Choice Neighborhoods Plan and 2020’s Housing Our Future playbook, Baker details how focusing on both investment and systems change will have the most impact.
The excerpt below was originally published by Cincinnati Enquirer:
Opinion: West End's opportunity for catalytic, inclusive growth
By Kristen Baker, LISC Greater Cincinnati Executive Director
With residents and partners, Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) Greater Cincinnati forges resilient and inclusive communities of opportunity − great places to live, work, visit, do business and raise families. At LISC Greater Cincinnati, we have used that comprehensive approach − focused on both investment and systems change − in our work with communities across the region, including Cincinnati’s West End, where we have supported residents and stakeholders as they plan for their future.
Most recently, we were a proud co-lead of Neighborhood Task Force for the West End Choice Neighborhoods Plan. This plan, made possible in part by grant funds awarded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development in 2020, gives the West End neighborhood the opportunity to reimagine housing in the Stanley Rowe Towers and Rowhouses and the Liberty Street Apartments. Community-serving partners came together with neighborhood residents to plan for inclusive, neighborhood-serving development. In fact, more than 35 committed partners signed on to participate in this two-year planning process that has held dozens of interactive community sessions with hundreds of residents participating.
The need for new investment in the West End is clear. The West End is home to some of Cincinnati’s oldest public housing. The cost just to make needed repair for 554 units was estimated at $70 million in 2020 and would easily exceed that now. Residents engaged with the plan demonstrated the need for repairs to their homes, but they also consistently voiced how proud they are of being part of the West End community. The West End Choice Neighborhoods Plan responds to the direct challenge that an aging, obsolete stock brings and the housing conditions faced by families. The plan calls for the renovation or replacement of 554 affordable housing units in desperate need of improvement. It also envisions adding an equal number of new units that expand housing options accessible at a diverse range price points.