CINCINNATI — The City of Cincinnati awarded $1 million to an affordable housing provider with a history of violations and tenant complaints about rats, raw sewage, mold, no hot water and inoperable stoves.
City Manager Sheryl Long announced the award to Preservation of Affordable Housing, or POAH, in a Sept. 16 memo, to help restore 81 units at Terri Manor in Lower Price Hill, which hasn’t had a major renovation in 25 years.
This came a week after Long sympathized with the living conditions of many POAH tenants, in a statement to the WCPO 9 I-Team.
“The problems that POAH residents are describing are dire. Many of these tenants are already in vulnerable situations, so for hazardous and unsafe conditions to persist at their homes is unacceptable,” Long said last week.
WATCH: Learn more about the grant POAH received from the city
The WCPO 9 I-Team first reported on POAH problem properties in July. Since then, city officials have ramped up their enforcement of code violations.
But the flood of tenant complaints has continued against one of Cincinnati’s largest affordable housing providers.
One mother is searching for answers after two infants died in the span of two years inside an Over-the-Rhine apartment building where she and other tenants say mold is making them sick.
“We have been without hot water for approximately eight days … and I can’t boil water because my stove has been out for two months,” Sabrina McGee told the I-Team on Monday. She lives in a POAH building on Stark Street in Over-the-Rhine, where she said nine other residents are also without hot water.
Last week, Long announced $3.4 million in city gap funding to help four affordable housing projects, with POAH winning the largest share.
Why does the city continue to fund POAH projects when tenants describe such poor living conditions?
A city spokesperson sent the following statement: “Importantly, the $1 million (NOFA) grant is contingent on POAH’s compliance with two demands: that the Terri Manor renovation prioritizes the most critical repairs and maintenance; and that POAH continues to collaborate with the city to address concerns across its entire housing portfolio. The city’s goal in renovating Terri Manor is to ensure that affordable housing units are maintained and up to city standards, and to preserve the Lower Price Hill community.”
The Terri Manor project is expected to cost $34 million, with work beginning by summer 2026.
“We received confirmation of an award this week from the City of Cincinnati, which puts us on our way to finalizing our financing package. This comes on the heels of the start of our comprehensive renovations at POAH's Community & Pendleton Apartments this month, another project that the city has invested in. The city is an essential partner in assuring this important housing is healthy and secure for years to come,” according to a statement from Sevara Davis, chief operating officer of POAH Communities LLC.
POAH is a national nonprofit based in Boston that operates in 13 states. It acquired many historic buildings from The Model Group in 2018 in Over-the-Rhine, Pendleton and the West End, with help from the city and the Ohio Housing Finance Agency.
“I don’t think POAH has been living up to the standards they should live up to. I think they’ve got a lot of work to do,” said Nick DiNardo, a managing attorney at the Legal Aid Society of Greater Cincinnati. “It appears that a lot of basic preventive maintenance is not getting done. We’re getting lots of calls about appliances not working. Lots of calls about water leaks and potentially mold developing because of that.”
POAH agreed to increased oversight after meeting with city officials in July. The city’s Residential Rental Inspection program is now overseeing all POAH properties due to the outstanding building code violations, a city spokesperson said.
On Sept. 2, city officials began the new inspections and expect it could take three months to evaluate all 148 buildings that contain 969 apartments. That was POAH’s local portfolio as of July.
The city’s residential rental inspectors are currently at Burnet Place, which is six buildings with 66 units in Walnut Hills, Mt. Auburn and Evanston, a city spokesperson told the I-Team last week.
At Burnet Place, inspectors found 19 violations and required POAH to fix smoke detectors, cabinetry, electric fixtures, bathroom surfaces and control insects and rodents. POAH has 30 days to make the fixes or submit repair plans if more time is needed, and will face reinspection, according to the spokesperson.
Beginning Oct. 1, the city’s inspection team will move onto North Rhine Heights, which contains 13 POAH buildings and 74 units.
DiNardo believes part of the problem lies in POAH’s out-of-town owners and the lack of decision-making authority by the employees here. But he doesn’t want POAH to lose its properties.
“I think POAH has some work to do in this area. Although we definitely want to support POAH, we don’t want to lose this affordable housing,” DiNardo said. “Right now, we have a huge deficit of affordable housing in Cincinnati and Hamilton County, somewhere in the range of 25,000 to 30,000 units.”
A POAH spokesperson has told WCPO that the safety, health and quality of life of residents is a top priority.
But McGee, who is lacking hot water and a working stove, isn’t so sure.
She said her two children, ages 9 and 12, are missing school because they can’t shower or have proper hygiene.
“This is starting to get ridiculous; I keep calling, they just keep giving us complaint numbers and apologizing that it has happened,” McGee said.
