CINCINNATI — Ayanna McClure is on the brink. Just as a new landlord bought her apartment building and immediately began repairs on property with outstanding city orders, McClure found a letter taped to her door saying rent would rise from $500 to $850 starting March 1.
That is more than the working mom of two can afford, she said.
"We just came from a homeless situation with another landlord," McClure said. "That's why I work so hard to keep this property because I don't want to be living in a car with my kids or living in a homeless shelter or extreme measures that you have to take when you're just uprooted. This is uprooting and displacing my family."
The building's new owner did not return a call for comment. According to state records, he took control from a Utah-based company on Jan. 11. That previous owner faced multiple complaints from tenants to the City of Cincinnati's Department of Buildings and Inspections, according to Mollie Lair, the city's director of communications.
"The city issued orders for both interior and exterior conditions during August and September of 2022," Lair said in an email. "Re-inspections have shown some work has been done, but the scope of the orders has not been fully resolved."
Still, the new owner's asking price is lower than the $1,030 average rent in Cincinnati's Avondale neighborhood, according to Rent Cafe.
Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) Greater Cincinnati research found 30% of people in Hamilton County spend more than 30% of their income on housing. Of that number, 47% make less than $20,000 a year, according to the research.
Eviction filings for the latest two-week period tracked in Cincinnati by the Eviction Lab hit the second-highest number since 2020.
"Unfortunately, I see this happening way too often and we're trying to build a world where this doesn't happen anymore," said Kevin Hengehold with the Cincinnati Tenants Union, who helped McClure successfully put her rent in escrow until her previous landlord completed needed repairs.
With crews for the new owner working on the building, McClure is not sure what it means and fears a return of her past.
Two years ago, as the COVID-19 pandemic surged, a former landlord at another address evicted McClure's family over money. McClure and her two children lived in her van until the Salvation Army found room at a homeless shelter. The family lived there for two months. Then, they found their current apartment building.
While their first unit flooded and their second needs work, it is still home. It seems, though, they are running out of time.
"It's more than enough to make you want to scream," McClure said.
In Washington D.C., the U.S. Conference of Mayors talked about affordable housing with many seeing crushing demand. Mayor Aftab Pureval came home with plans to build on investments and incentives for more affordable housing in Cincinnati.
"Far too many of our residents face this hardship and we have to do everything in our power to support stable, affordable housing for our most vulnerable families," Mayor Pureval said in a statement. "The City of Cincinnati has worked hard to crack down on the unacceptable behavior of landlords who buy properties only to neglect them and jack up rents. However, there's not one cure-all solution. Cincinnati needs more housing at all income levels, particularly affordable and low-income housing. We will continue to build on our record funding of the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, as well as our city incentives that produced a dramatic increase in affordable units this past year and we will continue to do everything in our power to protect and support tenants facing these challenges."
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