Brick by Brick

It was the spring of 2024 when Brick by Brick began reporting on solutions that could potentially increase the housing supply and make it more affordable. Thirty-two episodes later we look back at how well some of those ideas worked; focusing on eviction prevention, the construction of more apartment units and events that enabled a Cincinnati and Dayton woman to experience the joy of home ownershi...

Contentious debates can arise in cities around adding housing or development in neighborhoods, but what power do everyday residents have? From Dayton’s Five Oaks to Cincinnati’s Hyde Park these issues have bubbled up recently, so we want to explore solutions we all have at our fingertips to influence the trajectory of our communities. To explore this topic, we sit down with a city councilmember an...

Housing is an extra challenge for hundreds of thousands of people, who are released from prison every year in the U.S., millions more leave local jails. The barriers they face are enormous. But some communities are working to expand access and increase supply. How are they doing it?   Interview guests: Aisha Balogun, special project associate NYU’s Housing Solutions Lab; Tom Luettke, reentry coord...

Religious organizations are some of the biggest landholders in the country and communities are increasingly looking to them to help solve the housing crisis. Some efforts are already underway but churches say they need zoning help to build on their properties. Faith-based development can take many forms. Is it making a difference? Interview guests:  Nadia Mian, researcher Rutgers University; Pasto...

It’s getting increasingly harder to find an affordable place to live. Sky- high rents, fluctuating mortgage rates, expensive home prices and a shortage of housing are all contributing factors. Every year there are incentives for banks to create affordable housing. How much are they doing and is it making a difference?  Interview guests : Damon Allen, senior vice president Federal Home Loan Bank-Ci...

If the U.S. builds as many homes as it did last year, experts predict it will take an average of seven and a half years to close the housing gap. How do we speed up construction? One way might be to increase the production of 3D printed houses. This technology is starting to take off in Texas and a few other states. Could it make sense in other parts of the country?    Interview guests: Interview...

Vacant land owned by the government may be able to help ease the housing gap. Most of it near urban areas and transit lines, is controlled by local governments. And with the help of the Center for Geospatial Solutions (CGS), communities are starting to realize they may have land to build more housing.  Interview guest: Director of the Center for Geospatial Solutions Jeff Allenby explains how his n...

Responding to a study in 2023, Northern Kentucky is trying to increase their housing stock. Local leaders and non-profits collaborated to create a menu of options called Home for All: Northern Kentucky Housing Strategies . We look at some of the 50 solutions included and talk to stakeholders about the next steps. Interview guests:  Tara Johnson-Noem, Executive Director at Northern Kentucky Area De...

More than half of Americans say they would consider living in a tiny home, defined as large as 600 square feet. As traditional homes get more expensive the interest is increasing. Also, many see tiny homes as a possible solution to homelessness. Local efforts are underway to create villages of them. Interview guests: Alam Graham, CEO Mobile Loaves & Fishes (Community First Village) in Austin,...

The federal government gives developers the equivalent of $10 billion a year to build low-income housing in the form of a tax credit. Without this government subsidy, known generally as Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC), there would be a lot fewer affordable units. There are limitations, including the funding. Is there a better way to do it?   Interview guests: Anthony Orlando, PhD, associate...

An effort to improve one man’s suburban Dallas neighborhood is now spreading across the country, even touching South Bend, Indiana. Incremental developer Monte Anderson coined the term “gentlefication,” valuing people and buildings as he envisions what an area could look like. He’s teaching other cities how to do it. Interview guest: South Dallas community developer, landlord, and “town maker” Mon...

The U.S. housing stock is old and getting older and its deterioration is causing health, safety and financial concerns. Saving it is cheaper and more sustainable than building new. But preservation is still expensive. How do we preserve housing before more low-cost rental units are lost?  Interview guests: Executive Director Ohio Community Development Corporation (CDC) Association Torey Hollingswo...

Over time, property is almost guaranteed to go up in value. That’s a problem if you have a limited income and want to buy a house. Unless the house is in a community land trust (CLT) which retains ownership of the land and restricts the resale price of the home. CLTs are slowly gaining steam across the US and there is evidence this model is working.   Interview guests: Civil rights activist who he...

Ask ten people what a thriving community looks like to them and you will likely get ten different answers. But usually at the top of the list is access to affordable housing and healthcare. With 2025 approaching, Brick by Brick went searching for answers, talking to adults and teens. Interact for Health reports on roadblocks and successes for Southwest Ohio. In Dayton plans are underway for a well...

Thousands of people in Cincinnati and Dayton either can’t find a home they can afford or can’t afford the one they live in. Both cities are taking steps to address the housing crisis. What are they doing and is it enough? Brick by Brick hosts two city leaders, from Dayton and Cincinnati, to talk through possible solutions.  Interview Guests: Cincinnati Councilmember Jeff Cramerding and Dayton City...

Modular construction, built inside a climate-controlled factory and then trucked to a site for assembly, has been slow to catch on in the U.S. It makes up less than 4-percent of the housing stock, compared to 15-percent in Japan and 45-percent in Scandinavia. Is it the answer to increase the housing supply? And what about other ideas like container homes?  Interview guests: McKinsey & Company...

Old buildings make up an increasing share of the U.S. rental stock. Experts say a healthy supply of these aging apartments help cities and neighborhoods thrive. But fixing them up takes money and political will. Atlanta Developer Marjy Stagmeier, who wrote the book Blighted , renovates rundown apartments and has an education model she says others can replicate.  Interview guest: Atlanta developer,...

Look around and you’ll see plenty of vacant buildings. Can they be turned into housing? Adaptive Reuse is on the rebound and estimates say ninety-percent of real estate development in the next decade will involve adaptive reuse , or repurposing buildings for something other than their intended use. Most cases involve offices or hotels but factories, warehouses, malls and schools are also undergoin...

Cities that want to add hundreds of housing units at a time are embracing the addition of large-scale apartments alongside other types of housing. These big multifamily housing projects are on track to break national records this year and add an estimated 2-million units by 2028. But will the current economic climate allow the building boom to continue and do communities want large-scale apartment...

Housing Choice Vouchers are portable subsidies that low-income families can use to lower their rents in the private market. But is this 50-year old solution to the housing crisis working as well as it should? The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and local entities like the Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority and Greater Dayton Premier Management, which receive the federal fu...

Shane Phillips says we’re not building as much housing as we did in the 1960s when we had 120 million fewer people. He says the scarcity has caught up with us and offers up 54 ideas to tackle the housing crisis. In The Affordable City Phillips suggests everything from letting renters decide what they value to prioritizing the three S’s: Supply, Stability and Subsidy.  Interview guest: Shane Philli...

Cincinnati’s South Cumminsville is a largely low-income African American neighborhood along the once polluted Mill Creek. Seventy-percent of people live within a block of property with possible contamination and asthma rates among children are high. A nonprofit organization is helping  green it up through retrofits and near net-zero homes. Residents are hopeful and city leaders hope it can be repl...

As evictions and the number of people experiencing homelessness remain high, keeping people in their homes could come down to an algorithm. If homeless prevention agencies got a heads up on who was at-risk and what types of bills they were having trouble paying, they could help prevent an eviction even before an eviction notice. Cincinnati and other cities are trying it. Maidstone, England has dat...

Vacant and abandoned property accelerates the decline of neighborhoods. How can we make this land more productive? An increasing number of governments and non-profit organizations are turning to land banks as a partial solution.  Interview guests: National Land Bank Network Director Brian Larkin, Montgomery County Land Bank Senior Advisor Mike Grauwelman, The Port’s Executive Vice President Philip...

If we had an abundance of entry level units, there would be a lot of different opportunities,” says Charles Marohn. “A person who is in their first job, a person who’s just getting started with their family, a couple that has just gotten married, people should be able to move up when they’re ready.” In his book Escaping the Housing Trap, Marohn says because we can’t afford for housing prices to fa...