OHFA to Correct Lax Oversight of Tax Credit Projects

A local newspaper in Toledo, Ohio, recently found that the Ohio Housing Finance Agency (OHFA) failed to regularly inspect low-income homes that had received tax credits. A newspaper's investigation of roughly 800 low-income tax credit homes in Toledo revealed deep flaws that likely contributed to what has become a desperate situation in the city's poorest neighborhoods. More than 100 houses constructed or renovated with millions of dollars in taxpayer money are now boarded up, gutted, or burned out, contributing to years of decline rather than the housing renewal that was hoped for and promised by city officials.

The Ohio Housing Finance Agency failed to meet requirements that the homes be inspected at least once every three years, the newspaper said. And the agency blamed its poor inspection record on its only Toledo employee, who was fired in May, shortly after the paper began requesting documents from the agency.

Douglas Garver, OHFA's executive director, has stated that he was disappointed with the lack of inspections and announced that the agency planned to review all single-family tax-credit homes in Toledo by Aug. 21. The agency will inspect all other tax-credit projects in Toledo, including apartment buildings, by January.