In an effort to boost City homeownership rates and to reduce the glut of blighted rental housing, Cincinnati Councilmember Laketa Cole has proposed a motion to create an incentive program for converting multi-family buildings into single-family homes.
Cole cites the many large single-family houses that have been "cut up" into multi-family rental properties, damaging the beautiful old homes and destroying their communities through blight, neglect and foreclosure.
She believes that an incentive program will:
* Lead to rehabilitation and reinvestment
* Remove sub-standard rental housing from the market, providing better options for renters
* Benefit communities and increase the City's tax base
In a statement provided with the motion, Cole also says that, due to increasing gas prices, more single-family homes in the City may be more desirable to those who no longer want to commute from the suburbs.
The motion is currently being considered in council's Vibrant Neighborhoods, Environment and Public Services Committee.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Cole: Incentivize conversion of multi-families
