City officials, a local economic development group and Habitat for Humanity worked together to stabilize and renovate a house in the city’s West End, with the goal of boosting home ownership and creating affordable housing.
Then the house became available on Airbnb for $252 a night.
Now a local non-profit organization is under fire, as residents are angry over what they see as internal fraud and abuse of taxpayer money.
Whose house is it?
West End-based Seven Hills Neighborhood Houses has sold 1805 Baymiller St. to one of its employees, social worker Sheila Nared, under a program that targets “stakeholders” who live or work in the West End and want to make the neighborhood their permanent home.
Potential homebuyers can purchase homes offered through the program at a price below market price, provided they agree to be the primary occupant of the home for at least five years.
Nared bought the home in May for $155,000, which is about half of the home’s estimated market value, which ranges from $234,000 to $278,000, according to Redfin, a national real estate brokerage.
The entire home was listed on Airbnb, but was removed shortly after The Enquirer began inquiring about the property. At least one guest had written a review of the Airbnb listing as late as July 17. The property’s booking calendar also showed the home booked from July 25 to July 28.
When contacted by an Enquirer reporter, Nared admitted the home was listed on Airbnb but said the listing was a mistake. She insisted the home was her permanent residence: “I live there. I sleep there. That’s my primary residence.”
She declined to comment further.
If Nared had properly promoted Airbnb, she would have had to publicly register it with the city as a short-term rental and pay taxes into the city’s affordable housing fund. According to the city manager’s office, 1805 Baymiller St. was not registered.
Why is this important?
Owning a home in the largely low-income rental community of Cincinnati’s West End is tough. Housing is expensive, interest rates are high, and there’s not enough supply. Groups like Seven Hills are working to create more homeownership opportunities for local residents, and private developers are trying to bring market-rate housing to the neighborhood in an effort to close the gap.
In the case of the Baymiller Street home, stabilizing the building (and others next to it) required federal funding from the city. The finished two-bedroom, one-and-a-half-bath rowhouse was originally intended for a renter or a local resident who had never owned a home before. (Nared owns three other homes in Westwood.)
This is how Nared did it: despite months of trying, Seven Hills could not find a tenant or starter who qualified for the stakeholder program, according to director Alexis Kidd Zaffer.
They first put it up for rent and then for sale through various open houses, individual viewings and promotions on Facebook, calling it “affordable housing” for low- to moderate-income residents.
However, the property was not listed on the Multiple Listing Services of Greater Cincinnati, the platform most real estate agents use to share information about properties for sale and find available properties.
“We sought residents first and opened the opportunity to interested parties in March 2023,” Zaffer told The Enquirer. “First-time homebuyers were one of our priorities. If there was another applicant who was a first-time homebuyer, that applicant would have been given priority over a current homeowner (Nared).”
Courtney Turner, a West End native whose son attends the Seven Hills Neighborhood Houses summer camp, wanted to sign up for the project, but says the group “changed it” with the residents. “I heard about it at first, but it just kind of went away,” she said. “Now I realize it wasn’t what they said it was going to be.”
Chris Griffin of the West End Community Council knows other West End families who, like Turner, had applied. The community council sees Seven Hills’ decision not to ultimately sell or rent to another local as evidence of a deeper problem in the neighborhood.
“This is just one of many examples where nonprofits claim to represent the community but in reality do not,” he said in a statement. “We have warned the city about this for years, but we have been ignored. Let’s hope this helps them understand that Seven Hills Neighborhood Houses, and organizations like it, should not have a disproportionate voice over residents.”
The City Council voted in 2021 to no longer recognize Seven Hills as the official community development organization of the West End. The group alleges that Seven Hills, which develops affordable housing, contributes to the West End’s ongoing problems with concentrated poverty. Several residents, including Griffin, recently filed a fair housing complaint with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, citing discrimination in the development.
Seven Hills defends Airbnb listing, Habitat for Humanity calls it ‘unfortunate’
According to Seven Hills, there were no restrictions for Nared to rent her home short-term, as long as she lived there most of the time.
But what if she doesn’t?
“We have a problem,” Zaffer told The Enquirer.
Zaffer denied having firsthand knowledge of the Airbnb listing and said Seven Hills has a reclamation agreement with Nared, allowing the group to reclaim the home if it is not its primary residence.
Additionally, there were no income or use restrictions associated with the sale of the home, because construction was not funded with city or federal affordable housing money.
With the help of a HUD grant, the city provided more than $500,000 to stabilize the Baymiller townhouse and several other homes next to it. The Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority did the work and purchased it for $79,723 using funds from the Hamilton County Land Bank in 2018. They then sold it to Seven Hills.
Once it was stabilized, Habitat for Humanity of Greater Cincinnati served as general contractor for the redevelopment of 1805 Baymiller, using a construction loan from the Cincinnati Development Fund. (The nonprofit’s investors include 3CDC, Fifth Third Foundation, Hamilton County and Western & Southern.)
While the home Seven Hills sold to Nared is not the responsibility of Habitat for Humanity, CEO Joe Hansbauer called the Airbnb listing, which was first reported by WCPO, “an unfortunate situation.”
“We have an affordable housing crisis,” Hansbauer said. “You never want anyone to take advantage of that.
“Seven Hills, particularly in the work they’ve done with Habitat, has been a great partner,” he said. “I trust that they will address this situation in a way that will have positive outcomes for Seven Hills and the neighborhood.”
This article originally appeared on the Cincinnati Enquirer: Why an Airbnb in Cincinnati’s West End sparked local ire
