As the Chief Executive Officer of Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority, I'm afforded many opportunities to meet with legislators, community leaders, families we serve and of course the CMHA staff. Last month, Vice Mayor Smitherman asked for a presentation of CMHA's BOLD Transformation Plan to the City of Cincinnati Economic Growth & Zoning Committee. It was an honor to represent CMHA and highlight the great work the staff is doing to assist families and businesses across Hamilton County. Through the Housing Choice Voucher Program, CMHA pays out approximately $80 million a year to help provide quality affordable housing in the private rental market. Those dollars not only help house families, they help the economy when property owners spend money locally. In addition, the Section 3, Minority Owned and Women Owned businesses we work with to preserve the Asset Management properties are seeing an increase in contract dollars which has led to an increase in wages. New jobs at the construction sites average between $32 and $39 an hour.

The presentation not only demonstrated what CMHA is doing to help our community, it set the stage for strengthening our partnership with the City of Cincinnati. There's currently $128 million in preservation work taking place and $9.7 million are CMHA funds which means $118 million are non-tax payer funds. By showing how this organization can leverage public/private funds to improve affordable housing, we are proving that we are a great partner in providing homes and changing lives. When Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority and the City of Cincinnati work together in providing affordable housing with leveraged funds, we will make a daring statement to the community. One that will increase opportunities for hundreds of families.

With that being said, the implementation of the BOLD transformation at Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority is progressing well. Families who live at the Pinecrest were invited to an Open House. The Price Hill high-rise has undergone beautiful renovations as part of the preservation work taking place there. Residents joined CMHA staff for an inside look at a one bedroom and two-bedroom unit. You can see some of the pictures below. Also, we celebrated the $35.9 million preservation work taking place at Park Eden with a virtual Reno Day. Thirteen new livable wage jobs have been created due to the courageous changes taking place at the Walnut Hills location. New kitchens, new bathrooms, new accessible units and many upgrades are in progress at the 176 unit building. If you missed the celebration it is available on our website. Click here to view it.

2020 marked the 6th anniversary of the Property Owner Appreciation. As you can imagine planning a big celebration during a pandemic was an adventure. However, the staff faced the challenge and created an awesome appreciation. The event was held virtually and I encourage you to take the time to watch it. More details are available below.

I'd like to thank every staff member, partner and resident for pushing through during these challenging times. The collaborative work we all do is why Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority continues to be An Asset to Hamilton County.