OPC Launches Statewide Online Rental Housing Database

The Ohio Preservation Compact (OPC), a statewide partnership created to address the rising demand for affordable rental housing, launched a Web site at www.ohiopreservationcompact.org, and announced the creation of an $18 million Ohio Preservation Loan Fund to provide flexible capital for predevelopment, acquisition, and bridge financing for preservation projects in the state. The site and loan fund were made possible by a $5 million award from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

The OPC is a consortium of the Ohio Housing Finance Agency, the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio, and Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing.

The OPC online database, a resource for site owners and developers, includes information on more than 3,000 affordable housing communities in Ohio. “The OPC’s site will facilitate a better understanding of the increased need to preserve our existing housing stock and to assist owners and potential developers in identifying projects that are at risk of losing their rental subsidies (Rental Assistance or Section 8),” said Doug Garver, executive director of the Ohio Housing Finance Agency (OHFA). The OPC will perform a comprehensive analysis of the information collected in the database to generate profiles of properties with impending subsidy contract expirations or other challenges.

One of the first partners to receive funding through the Ohio Preservation Loan Fund is the Community Housing Network (CHN), a nonprofit organization that provides rental housing and supportive services to people with disabilities and other special needs. Through the Loan Fund, the CHN received an acquisition loan for $3 million to begin the rehabilitation and refinance process of six projects totaling 222 units.