(bright music) - [Announcer] "Brick by Brick" is made possible thanks to leading support from Greater Cincinnati Foundation, AES Ohio Foundation, and George and Margaret McLane Foundation.

Additional support provided by Laurie Johnston, the Robert & Adele Schiff Family Foundation, Murray & Agnes Seasongood Good Government Foundation, and many more.

We couldn't do this work without you.

Thank you.

- Ohioans are getting creative about where to put solar power, from reservoirs to landfills.

- We are taking long-vacant land, an actual dump, and transforming it from a blighted property, a site that has seen challenges with illegal dumping for years, into land that is literally generating energy for our city.

- [Ann] All this as some residents continue to fight large-scale solar farms statewide.

We shine a light on commercial and community solar to rein in rising energy bills.

Plus: - What you won't see on the ballot next month is a bill to eliminate property taxes.

There weren't enough signatures, but it doesn't mean the issue or the initiative is going away.

Ohio lawmakers continue to think of ways to lessen the burden.

An update just ahead.

- [Ann] But first, an organization that since its origin has helped 65 million people build or improve their homes.

- Habitat for Humanity continues to duplicate this model because it works.

Financial coaching, sweat equity, and a zero-interest loan for a home they can call their own.

For many, it's life-changing.

- It changed my life because it gave me a peace of mind.

- Let's get into it.

This is "Brick by Brick: Solutions for a Thriving Community."

Hello and welcome to "Brick by Brick," where we're highlighting solutions for a thriving community in Southwest Ohio.

I'm your host, Ann Thompson.

It's a question we keep asking, how do we add more affordable housing?

Greater Cincinnati and Dayton continue to face a shortage of thousands of low-cost, income-aligned units.

For Hamilton County, it's an estimated 27,000.

And for Montgomery County, it's 15,000.

However, we are making progress to close the gap.

RentCafe says between 2020 and 2024, Cincinnati and Columbus doubled their number of affordable housing units.

Dayton built nearly 900 units and had the highest growth rate in Ohio, up 437%, and the largest share of its housing inventory devoted to income-restricted units, 17%.

But there is also a desire for those in need to own their own home.

- So, I mean, it just brought about stability in a way that an apartment doesn't, not in this day and age.

- Owning a home was very important to me for my children.

I grew up in low-income housing majority of my life.

I actually started out renting my first place in low-income housing and I just wanted something different for my children.

- I needed a peace of mind by me being visually impaired, legally blind in one eye.

- One nonprofit has been helping people buy a home for the last 50 years.

Just last year, Habitat for Humanity partnered with three million people globally to build or improve their home.

The model is simple.

Those who qualify partner with the organization and build a house with the help of volunteers.

In return, they receive down payment assistance, financial education, and a zero-interest loan over 30 years, enabling them to pay an affordable mortgage.

Some people just need repairs on their home and Habitat helps them with that.

The partnerships are many, but one of them is with the Dayton Home Repair Network, which "Brick by Brick" has reported on.

Since the 1980s, Habitat for Humanity chapters in Cincinnati and Dayton have built about a thousand homes and repaired many others.

Cincinnati's Jason Chamlee is a little overwhelmed.

- We built 700 homes over 40 years and somehow the problem is bigger than it was when we started.

- Nationwide, the standard is a stick-built single-family, no-frills home, but the types of houses they build are evolving from manufactured to 3D-printed homes to town homes and ADUs or backyard cottages.

Cincinnati and other cities are also leaning into larger-scale developments, which we'll tell you about later.

For the homeowner, the experience of being able to buy a home can be transformative.

- My narrative to my kids is way different now.

Like, usually it was, "Okay, hey, make sure you go to school, go to college so that you can get a job and not be homeless," right?

But they're not gonna be homeless now.

We have a house.

- I'm so happy about having a home because I can start my own garden.

I like plants.

I'm about to do that.

And then I can just sit on the porch and watch the sun rise and set.

- Building wealth is great, but building generational wealth is even greater.

- Habitat surveys show in Cleveland, 65% reported better physical health.

In North Carolina, 80% of children's grades improved and 41% of adults completed an educational or job training program.

And in California, 94% now feel safer in their homes and more than half increased their savings.

Habitat for Humanity recognizes everyone deserves a decent place to live and a warm place to call home.

As "Brick by Brick's" Emiko Moore found out with two families in Dayton.

One is about to become a new homeowner and another bought a Habitat house years ago.

(transition whooshes) - [Emiko] Adriana Guzman and Loretta Houston have both paved a way to home ownership with Habitat for Humanity of Greater Dayton.

Guzman, an administrative assistant, is looking forward to the day she can move into her home this fall with her four children.

- Just like a big comfy sofa, TV, blanket.

- [Emiko] Houston, a nurse's aide, just finished paying off her mortgage.

And recalls how she felt walking into her new home.

- That it was mine, you know.

It was exciting that I got to just put everything in it that I wanted in there, you know.

So, and to think that I was doing it and it was my own home.

- [Emiko] Habitat has a proven pathway, which includes classes on budgeting, home maintenance, and legal matters to prepare families for the responsibility of owning a home.

- I think the classes are very good for a first-time homeowner, you know, as far as the maintenance part, the finance part, you know, it keeps you more, especially the finance part, keep you more on your feet as far as, you know, your dos and your don'ts and to keep up with your bills and stuff like that.

- I think it's helpful 'cause, you know, like, I've never owned a home, so just having a little insight of what I need to prepare for, I think it'll help me a lot.

- [Emiko] The cost of down payment on a new Habitat home, 275 volunteer hours, also known as sweat equity.

- I used to help cut grass, but the more exciting part when I got to work on my own home.

- With the other homes, I've helped paint, put flooring, I've helped, like, put up their cabinets, put vinyl siding, which is a little bit different than mine.

- [Emiko] Norm Miozzi is executive director.

- It is a commitment for the families, but in that way, it also, I think, solidifies their commitment to buy the house and then of course to own the house and take care of it.

- You know, there's been times when, like, I've just wanted to quit 'cause, you know, it just seems long.

It's a long journey.

So I just feel like now that I've coming to an end, I can say, like, that I worked for this, not something that was just handed to me.

- [Emiko] Another stepping stone Habitat provides: a zero-interest mortgage loan, keeping monthly payments for families below 30% of their monthly income.

- With that, we have a 30- or 20-, 25-, 30-year relationship with our families.

So it's really beneficial because sometimes, especially when you serve families who are in that income range, 30 to 60% of the median income, sometimes a car repair can be, you know, a big challenge.

So the fact that we are the ones who actually carry the mortgages allows us to work with that family to help them through some of those challenging times.

- [Emiko] To help fund this mission, Habitat operates two ReStores, resale shops that accept donated furniture and household items with a third location to open in Miami Township.

Remodeling contractors even donate cabinets.

- And so we've had many families come to our stores and then use those cabinets in their home.

So new to them, right?

And same thing.

They're sold at, you know, a fraction of what new cabinets would cost you today.

So, you know, it's a win-win on both sides.

- [Emiko] Volunteers are the lion's share of their workforce.

Each year, up to 5,000 volunteers help make the Habitat homes possible.

The biggest challenge to Habitat's work: funding.

- So we're always looking for innovative ways to serve more families because like I said, the need's there and unfortunately it's not going away.

- [Emiko] For families, owning a home opens much more than just doors.

- To me, it just feels like stability, you know, like not having to worry about where I'm gonna move next year, where I'm gonna be five years from now.

Just know that, you know, as long as I'm good, you know, like and able to work, you know, like this will be mine.

If something happens to me, you know, I can pass it on to my kids.

I can leave something for my kids.

It's like if I rent, you know, what can I leave for them?

- [Emiko] And what has Houston shown to her two children who are both homeowners today?

- How to be responsible, how to, you know, not to be afraid.

Get in there and do it, you know?

You're gonna have your downfalls, you'll have your good days, you'll have your bad.

And God know I did.

You know, I had my good days, I had my bad.

You know, I have my struggle times, you know, to where I lost my job and had to find another one.

Everybody goes through that.

So I always tell my kids, "Don't be afraid, you know, 'cause, you know, something always good is gonna come out of it."

You know, once you fall, you pick yourself back up and keep going, you know?

Don't stop at that one downfall.

You keep moving.

And once you keep moving, I guarantee you'll strive to where you want to be.

(transition whooshes) - As we've been telling you, Habitat typically builds its homes on scattered lots.

Increasingly though, some chapters are leaning in on large-scale developments.

It's happening in Texas, North Carolina, and Cincinnati.

On this single block in Over-the-Rhine, Habitat and its contractor, Kaiker Development, are building eight new town homes.

Earlier this year, they also fixed up and sold a historic home in this same block.

(transition whooshes) You were hired to oversee these larger-scale developments.

What's the payoff and what are the challenges?

- The payoff, the magic word is scale, just the opportunity to deploy all of our efforts and resources in one place at one time to create a much larger outcome of homes, number of homes we can produce with the same amount of capacity.

The challenges are in order to bring all this together, what we're looking at here is a total of nine homes.

We can't go one at a time, so we need to pull together all of the resources, all of the planning, and everything else that goes into building them all before we put a shovel in the ground for any of them.

- And to do these type of projects, you have started using contractors.

So how does that change the model and what about the cost?

- Yeah, for the model, it doesn't really change the model.

Really what it is is in addition to the model.

And so I like to think of it as a both-and.

So really the way we've structured it is we continue to do our, what we call traditional build with our team at Habitat and volunteers and everything else, but that team has capacity constraint.

And so either we grow that operation or we bring in third-party contractors leveraging the real estate and construction industry to help us scale.

And so really it's a both-and where our team continues to build the scattered infill homes that everyone knows and is very engaged in.

And then we can bring contractors such as Kaiker here at this site alongside us to help us grow and scale.

- You have a number of other developments that you're working on, including 31 town homes in Oxford and also on a three-acre lot that Mercy donated in Springfield Township on Banning Road.

So describe those developments.

- Habitat for Humanity of Greater Cincinnati, we have a nine-county service area, Hamilton County and every county that touches it.

It covers three states, multiple jurisdictions, very different communities.

Kind of we run the spectrum of community types.

And so therefore, the blessing and the curse of real estate is every project, every site is different.

And so we will bring a kind of a custom approach to each project.

They will not all look the same.

For us, the key is to fit into the neighborhood context.

So here in the Over-the-Rhine community of Cincinnati, it's a very dense row house product.

In Oxford, in three acres of land, it's a little bit more spread out.

We're actually building the infrastructure, the roads and the sewers there to support more of a traditional subdivision in Oxford.

And then in Springfield Township where we received the generous donation from Mercy, we're at the very front edges of the planning there.

There's already a public road, so we'll have to plan some upgrades for that to support the new homes.

(transition whooshes) - It seems other Habitat chapters are exploring the large-scale model.

We're also keeping our eyes on Habitat's $8 million development in Dayton's Edgemont neighborhood with plans to build 30 homes.

The limitations for the potential Habitat homeowner include: being able to afford a mortgage for a family of four that's earning between $34,000 and about $88,000.

The applicant also has to be able to put in some sweat equity, a couple hundred hours worth.

That could be in the form of doing construction, clearing debris, writing thank-you notes to donors, making lunches for volunteers, and more.

For the organization, the limitations include time, money, and not being able to help everybody who wants to buy an affordable home.

For every 10 applications in Cincinnati, just one person is selected.

Coming up on "Brick by Brick," Ohio leads the nation in rejecting large-scale solar projects, figuring out a way forward to lower energy costs.

(transition whooshes) (transition whooshes) We switch topics now to talk about rising electric bills and the benefits of commercial and community solar.

Developers of large-scale solar farms continue to face an uphill battle in Ohio as residents, farmers, and ultimately the Supreme Court reject a record number of proposals.

Despite this, communities are thinking outside the box to come up with possible solutions.

(transition whooshes) Cincinnati has plans to turn this old Winton Hills landfill into a 10-megawatt solar array that will power city buildings and potentially homes down the road.

- We're living in unpredictable times.

The decisions people are making in other parts of the world are having a drastic impact on our utility bills at home.

- [Ann] Cincinnati is following Northern Ohio's lead where a handful of old landfills are either delivering solar power or will in the future.

Mayor Aftab Pureval emphasizes.

- That we do not see this as a one-off project.

We are going to continue aggressively pursuing opportunities just like this because this is our strategy, not just powering our own facilities, but actively looking at ways to directly impact taxpayer rates.

- [Ann] Some communities like Lima are even using reservoirs to float solar panels.

Reservoirs and landfills with solar could lessen the amount of farmland needed, which has been controversial.

- [Bill] Farmland like that is irreplaceable.

- When we interviewed Clark County farmer Bill Agel earlier this year, he was in the middle of a fight to save the land around him.

He won as Ohio rejected the proposed Sloopy Solar project, the eighth such one turned down since 2020, but counties recognize these solar farms could pay for projects they need.

Somebody who was for it might say like, "Hey, the county is giving up $1.5 million a year by you and others opposing it."

How could you still get that type of revenue from something else?

- I'm not sure personally that county governments should be looking to raise money.

And personally, philosophically, I couldn't tolerate raising money destroying good farmland.

- [Ann] Ohio's largest operational solar farm, 577 megawatts, is Fox Squirrel in Madison County.

Developer Adam Sokolski says to be approved, you have to get the community on board and follow Ohio standards.

- It is very rigorous in Ohio, much more rigorous than you see in some states, but that rigor does not necessarily mean that you're jumping through hoops.

It means that you are being held to a very high regulatory standard, one of the highest in the country, in my opinion.

- [Ann] The 100-megawatt New Market Solar in Highland County was the largest US municipal array when the first part of it came online in 2022.

It provides power to Cincinnati buildings and participants of the aggregation program.

They've saved 13% over the last seven years off Duke Energy's rate.

Kroner saw the program through.

- You spend so much time dreaming and planning and to arrive here and to see the steel in the ground, the panels in action, sunny day, and know that this is a major player in our clean energy transition and everything we're trying to achieve to address the climate crisis in Cincinnati.

It's a reminder that we can make big things happen, we can make hard things happen, and it feels really good.

(transition whooshes) - Cincinnati is negotiating for another large-scale solar project.

We don't know the location yet or the timetable.

In a separate effort, Southwest Ohio residents, small businesses, and nonprofits can benefit from buying solar panels in bulk.

The 2026 solar co-op will launch in December, and what could make putting more solar on brownfields easier is Ohio House Bill 303, which is still in a Senate committee.

It proposes a lot of other things, including allowing residents, renters, and small businesses to get money off their own utility bills by subscribing to local energy projects and earning credits.

In September, 11 Ohio communities, including Springfield and Wyoming, urged its passage.

(transition whooshes) (transition whooshes) A statewide proposal to eliminate property taxes didn't have enough signatures to make the Ohio ballot.

Organizers say it's not going away.

Meanwhile, lawmakers are continuing to look at the problem and trying to come up with possible solutions.

"Brick by Brick's" Hernz Laguerre Jr.

has an update.

Hernz?

- There's one thing many Ohio homeowners have in common is that they believe property taxes are too high.

According to a nonprofit organization, Tax Foundation, Ohio has the eighth-highest property tax rate based on home value.

State Rep.

Kevin Miller and State Rep.

Jeff LaRe have proposed a new constitutional amendment inspired by the tax structure in California.

- Our constitutional amendment here would do is it would set that value of that appraised value of your home when you purchase it, but it would still allow for small inflationary increases no more than 3% per year.

- This constitutional amendment, which both state lawmakers hope to submit to Ohio voters by the 2027 primaries, comes off the heels of a slew of property tax bills that are passed before the lawmakers took a summer break.

State Representative Dani Isaacsohn believes these efforts, including Miller and LaRe's, are a drop in the bucket in alleviating property tax burdens.

- I'm gonna try and say this generously.

It's not a serious attempt to solve the problem.

The fundamental problem with property taxes in Ohio is that we over-rely on them to pay for our public services, especially public education.

- Isaacsohn, along with other lawmakers, believe that the state and corporations should carry a fairer share of the public education costs and other local services, and that there is an over-reliance on homeowners to fund these services through their property taxes.

An idea Isaacsohn presented years ago was implementing a circuit breaker, which would give homeowners a credit when a tax bill reaches a certain percentage of a homeowner's income.

The idea has bipartisan support across the country, but it hasn't passed here.

- Not a question of whether this is a partisan idea, it's a question of whether the legislature as a whole led by the supermajority is willing to let it happen.

And again, it's passed in both, you know, Republican and Democratic states around the country, so it seems we have an Ohio-specific problem.

- Miller agrees that it's something we should look into on top of other solutions.

- I think continuing to look at other things such as the circuit breaker, like you talked about, is something definitely worth looking at.

Certainly we have to look at the economic impact of the state's budget as a result of those, but certainly worth looking at.

- For some Ohioans, the legislature is moving too slowly in resolving the property tax burden, leading them to search for extreme measures like getting rid of property taxes altogether.

The group AxOHTax failed to gather signatures to get a measure like that on the ballot, but according to the co-founder of the group, Brian Massie, the burden of property taxes is forcing homeowners to make tough decisions.

- I was down in Lisbon a couple weeks ago and I actually recorded someone that lost his home and is now living in a one-room apartment that is a re-converted motel.

So is that what we are expecting in our society?

- This issue won't resolve itself overnight.

So as the General Assembly ends in the year 2026, as the new one starts next year, we'll keep you posted on the legislative solutions being presented to lower property taxes.

Back to you, Ann.

- Thanks for the update, Hernz.

We're tracking along with that topic and many other solutions we've been following from housing to health to the environment and more.

Get your fix by heading to our show page at thinktv.org or cetconnect.org.

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(transition whooshes) The property tax conversation continues.

Let's start with that on the takeaways, and we welcome Hernz and Emiko.

And Hernz, this is something that just people can't stop talking about.

- For sure.

And even when it comes to the lawmakers, I personally feel like every lawmaker and their mother has like 20 proposals in order to help lower property taxes.

We look at a circuit breaker, right?

We spoke about that during the update, has bipartisan support all throughout the country, but for some reason it's not happening here in Ohio.

I also want to point out the "Ohio Capital Journal," which had an op-ed article about the tax increment financing, which is a method that freezes a property's taxable value at its pre-development level, which highlights where support is coming from for public schools, fire department, and other services.

And sometimes it just falls on the homeowner and a lot of people feel like that's not fair.

Long story short, this issue is complicated.

We talk about it all the time.

Property taxes is really complicated, but the thing that isn't complicated is that a lot of people feel burdened, which is why you have a lot of people focusing on groups like the AxOHTax.

You know, they're going to extreme measures in order to eliminate property taxes altogether, which we all know may cause even more complications.

So the legislature needs to figure something out quick in order to lessen the burden.

- That's right.

And I think a lot of this frustration and anger is really a symptom of a broken system, but I do think that's an opportunity as well because if you have this kind of energy that's spent there, maybe people can use that to motivate them to find solutions 'cause I do believe community members do have solutions and if they can study this, it is complicated, understand it better and then go and talk with your auditors, talk with those legislators, come up with solutions together 'cause we all need to work together on this one.

- Yeah, something else that's firing people up is higher energy costs, utility bills, and solar farms.

Well, I'm encouraged that there are some other options, putting solar on landfills, on possibly brownfields, on reservoirs to, it's not gonna make, you know, quite the impact, but maybe not as much as the controversy.

And if we can get the House Bill 303 passes stuck in a Senate committee, people are saying, advocates, that we'll be able to do a lot more.

- Yeah, you know, you pointed to the burden of property taxes.

There's also a burden with electricity bills.

And the thing with solar panels, you know, it's a catch-22, right?

Because yes, they help lower your electricity bills, but the solar panels in and of themselves are expensive.

I think it's important to highlight that, you know, with the federal government eliminating the solar credits that you would normally get for getting solar panels on your residential home, it just makes it that much more of a barrier in order to trying to get your electricity bills alleviated.

- That's right.

I do think the idea of, land is valuable, and if we can use land that is not being used, a brownfield or a landfill or other reservoirs, that's a good use.

We all need that energy.

And if we can put extra energy in this renewable way on the grid, it might help stabilize this market volatility that many families are experiencing with increasing energy prices.

- Yeah, thanks for that.

Habitat for Humanity, your comments.

- Well, I think this has worked well for many years because they really help homeowners pave the way to home ownership.

If you've grown in a family that's never owned a home or you've only been renters, you don't know maybe all the things that are involved.

So they have a home ownership class that will teach you, you know, here, landscaping.

There's certain trees you want to get.

How do you budget for property taxes or upcoming home repairs?

They also have sweat equity.

You know, this home isn't given to you.

You have to buy this home and you have to put 275 hours of sweat equity.

So you're putting a little bit of your time and energy into this home, but you also get to see the underbelly of, how's a home built?

You know, you might say, "I put this nail on this home."

And also with a zero-interest loan for the mortgage, that really helps people get that mortgage paid off as we've seen in the stories.

- Yeah, a very valuable program to so many.

And I keep thinking about Jason Chamlee's comment, he's with the Greater Cincinnati Habitat, who said that, you know, "We've built 700 homes over 40 years and somehow the problem in this area is bigger than when we first started."

Also, the impact continues to be great for those benefiting.

Homeowner Adriana Howard says she and her family, because they have this house and don't have to worry about being homeless, can concentrate on other things like art and gardening and music and volunteering and they can just become the people that God wants them to be.

- Yeah.

I think that's important to highlight, right?

You know, the fact that when you don't have these burdens, right, when you don't have to worry about your mortgage or your rent, you can contribute to the community.

You can be a thriving member of this community in order to make the community thrive as well.

But when you have these burdens, when you have these things to worry about, you can't contribute as much as you want to.

- Yeah.

Important information.

Thanks for your stories.

- No problem.

- That's our show.

We'll continue to follow all of these topics, and we hope we gave you something to think about.

Please keep the conversation going by telling your friends and family about the latest on Habitat for Humanity, property taxes, and solar.

Until next time, for Emiko Moore and Hernz Laguerre Jr., I'm Ann Thompson.

We'll be back soon with more solutions.

Take care.