AFFORDABLE HOUSING IN AVONDALE

The Avondale Development Corporation broke ground on the first phase of the Hale Avenue Townhomes project Thursday.

The new homes will serve as workforce homes, which means tenants must make no more than $34,000 a year to qualify for the townhomes

The Executive Director of the Avondale Development Corporation (ADC), Russ Hairston, says Avondale is the largest minority neighborhood in Cincinnati. For years, Hairston says the area has struggled with quality affordable housing.

So, his team from ADC teamed up with city leaders and a black-owned developer Kaiker Construction to create Hale Avenue, a three-phase project in Avondale.

Once complete, there will be 24 newly constructed townhomes located at the corner of Hale and Hallwood Avenues, all for sale as workforce housing Hairston says workforce housing means tenants must make at most 120 percent of the area median income, which he says is $34,000/year.

“The residents hear about all of the growth that’s happening,” explains Hairston. “The first thing that they wonder is how they are going to be able to afford to stay in our own neighborhood. This is part of that answer. Beautiful seven units of workforce housing development, which shows the majority that yes, you too can own one, and we hope this spearheads the drive for more and to ask for more housing.”

The housing development signifies a number of achievements for its coordinators, almost all of whom come from marginalized backgrounds. The townhomes are the first development led by Black women in Avondale, with Maria Collins of ADC and architect Bridget Harris, president of BTH Construction Delivery, at the helm. The project is also noteworthy for primarily being supported by entities owned and operated by people of color Kaiker Development & Construction, owned by Kai Lewars, is the general contractor for the project.