Housing, Community Development & Public Health Committee - Regular Meeting

Committee hearing of 05/29/2025. Clerk, can you please call the roll? Oh.

Gaddis Jones, Driscoll, Hartman? Here. McPherson, Melden, Williams? One present. Also present, councilman Nicomise.

Hello. Thank you for for being here. This is National Homeownership Month coming up just next month. So why don't you take it away and show us your presentation?

Sure. Thank you. I'd like to thank the committee for the opportunity to come before you today. My name is David Eccles. I'm the Assistant to the Director of Housing and Community Development. I am joined by Lucinthia Jones, who is the Neighborhood Navigator for the Department of Housing and Community Development. And yes, we're talking about the twenty twenty five Homeownership Fair. We will be talking a little bit about the twenty twenty four Fair because this is our second annual. And so we'll talk a little bit about that as well as what to expect from the 2025. So before we do that, we kind of want to step back a little bit and talk about Toledo housing in general.

When we think about Toledo housing, Toledo is ranked among the most affordable housing market in The United States. And we know that Toledo, Ohio has a nearly fifty-fifty percentage rate when it comes to renters versus homeowners. We feel like it's a great time to really engage with the residents and to educate them about the benefits and the reasons and the how to of becoming a homeowner. When we talk about benefits of homeownership, we really have to talk about the fact that when you become a homeowner, you're empowered. Your involvement becomes to an extent that you now have a voice that you might not have had as a renter.

The pride that you have when you're a homeowner goes up because you are now part of the community. You are part of what makes the community what it is. Well, Cynthia and myself had the opportunity to sit with the mayor, I suppose it wasn't maybe three weeks ago, when we were doing the Wednesdays with Wade podcast and one of the things that came up was the fact that when you buy a home, it's one of the few things that when you're making payments on it, it doesn't depreciate. And so unlike most things that you sign your name to before the ink dries, it's already worth less than what you're paying for it. With a home, as you're paying for it, the wealth goes up, so it's generational wealth.

It's something that you can pass on. And so that's another benefit, a huge benefit that we want to make sure people realize. When we talk about owning a home, you no longer have to ask your landlord, hey, can I paint the walls this color? Can I hang my TV on the wall or do I have to leave it on a stand? If there's a wall that you think this house would look better without it, you have the ability to make those choices and so you have greater control over where you live.

There's also the idea that when you're making a mortgage payment, your rate stays the same for either twenty, thirty years usually. And so the cost that you're going to be spending is going to stay around the same versus with rent, it can change yearly. So there's also the stability that comes from that. Also there's tax advantages to owning a home and as we mentioned, property tends to appreciate not depreciate. So when we're talking about all this, obviously we had our first annual fair last year.

One of the things that you have in front of you is the Find Your Way Home Resource Guide. That was something that was handed out to each individual that came through the door. We tried to put as much information in this as we possibly could that we felt was going to help kind of be a roadmap to people who maybe had never thought about buying a home, maybe had never thought about what was involved in finding a lender or what their credit might look like. And so one of the things that we did was put all that information in here. But another thing that we put in because when in the city of Toledo, obviously we have different districts, we have different council members.

And so we made sure to put that map in here as well so that people would know who to reach out to if they wanted to talk to somebody about something that was going on in their neighborhood. But again, there's checklists, there's all kinds of worksheets, there's a budget worksheet which is really helpful if someone is trying to figure out how much money do I truly have. They can see where their money is going. Sometimes people have never even worked out a budget. And so these are things that really help.

This year it will be slightly different. The overall shape of the overall size of it is going to be slightly larger and the big difference is that when you open it up in the front and the back, it will actually be like a folder and so there will be a pocket where people can put paperwork into and as they are going from classroom to classroom, if there is paperwork in there, they will be able to put that information into the book, which in my opinion when we think about it, a book is only as good as what you get out of it. If you don't open it back up, you're not going to get anything out of it. So if we're putting stuff in it, it's a better chance that we're going to open it up again. So we have all of that.

And like I said, it'll be slightly different, but the idea is that people can go back to it and get information that is relevant to the same things that they went over in the classrooms. So thinking of the twenty twenty four fair, we had over 400 people through the door. It was held at Scott High School as it will begin this year. There were workshops on home buying, credit readiness, things of that nature. There were vendor tables and giveaways.

And overall, it was really engaging and the community was really responsive to it. We did surveys, pre event surveys as well as post event surveys. And this was very interesting to see. These are two of the questions that were in the pre event survey. The first one there was on Slide five, you'll notice, what is preventing you from purchasing your own home?

There were five thirty four responses and the top two responses, number one was that they couldn't save enough for a down payment, and number two was that they were dealing with either bad or poor credit. And when we look at the second question, it was where are you on your journey to buying a home? And again, there was five forty nine responses. And of that, the top response, 42% were of the opinion that they would be in a new home within a year, and 27% was that in less than six months, they were looking to be in a new home. Just a slight summary of the pre event surveys.

Again, was about 69% of people planned to purchase a home within a year. There were 66% that was interested in soft credit checks. But then you notice that there's 94% that don't have a lender or a pre approval. And so when we look at that, that tells us there's a definite need. The top barriers again as we talked about was down payment savings and poor credit.

One of the things that we tried to make sure we did was have a good grouping of lenders. And it kind of goes back to the idea that there were all these people that did not have any pre approval, hadn't talked to a lender. One of the things that we did through a direct result of people being there, whether it was realtors or lenders, the residents of Toledo got to talk to them and got to create relationships with them, and as a result of that, at least three people that we know of purchased homes and went from being a renter to a homeowner in the last year. And when we see that, we really think that homeownership and the perception around that starts with empowering one person at a time. And so it's just something that we feel is very important.

When we move to the post surveys, the post event surveys, it was that we asked the question again, how have your home ownership plans changed since attending the Homeownership Fair? We had 78 responses and 39% of them said that they had planned to purchase a home within a year and 33% were more interested in buying. I really liked the last so 10 responses out of 78, 13% actively saving to purchase a home in the future. And again, when we're talking about that incremental change reaching one person at a time, these are people that are actively choosing to save towards their future in buying a new home. When we look at the post event summary, just some highlights there.

We had 94% that felt that it was either excellent or very good. There were 86% that planned to come again this year. I love this one. We asked people how they heard about the event. The top response was City of Toledo.

And what that encompassed was our website, our social media, so Facebook, all the things. Marcom's did a great job marketing communication team did a great job of really getting the message out there. And I think that speaks volumes. And so we can't ever really say enough praise for them, because 37% was that, and then 35% was word-of-mouth. There were 75% of the people that completed the survey that said that they found the staff extremely helpful, which was nice to hear.

And 95% found that it was easy to navigate. And again, as we talked about, there was 38% or 39% that plan to buy a home this year or within a year and then 33% were more interested in buying. But then we asked them, okay, what topic would you like to hear more about? And in that was where we found interest in Home Ownership 101, down payment help and credit counseling. And that kind of takes us to where we are for our twenty twenty five workshops and information. And for that, I'll let Lucynthia Jones handle it.

Thank you, David. Good afternoon, council members. So this year, our Homeownership Fair will be Saturday, June 21, again at Scott High School from 10AM to 2PM. We have a new lineup, a few new workshops coming this year. The first one, speaking back to what David talked about is our Home at Last down payment assistance workshop.

The Home at Last program allows prospective income home buyers to receive up to $7,500 in down payment assistance if they purchase a home outside of one of our target areas or up to $9,500 if they purchase a home within one of our target areas. Another workshop that we have that is coming up that's newer is our home inspection workshop which is going to talk to prospective home buyers about what to expect with an inspection and how to protect their potential purchase when buying a home. Also, we'll have a home insurance workshop which will help buyers understand coverage options and how to protect their investment. Our final new addition this year is the Lucas County Land Bank where buyers will learn how to purchase vacant lots, adopt a lot or purchase a rehab or rehab ready home. We have a new partnership this year with Pathways Financial Opportunity Center as they'll be facilitating the credit counseling workshop.

And they will also allow attendees the opportunity to sign up for a one on one credit counseling after the workshop which is which will help attendees build credit and financial strength. NeighborWorks, they continue to be a vital partner as as with this particular fair again. They'll also be offering the homebuyer education and the budgeting again this year. But in addition to that, we'll have a homebuyer education workshop that will be in Spanish and that will be facilitated by Lucas County Housing Services Corporation. Fair Housing, Lucas Metropolitan Housing, Huntington Bank, Fifth Third and the North Ohio Realtors will offer workshops also again this year and in order to qualify for our prize drawings which we'll talk about in the next slide, attendees have to participate in one of the homebuyer education workshops.

This underscores the importance of them being informed and prepared before buying a home. So this slide talks about our prize giveaways. We're going to do the $10,000 down payment assistance again this year but the difference this year is the entrance, the attendees have to come in with a preapproval for a mortgage in order to enter that drawing. In that main drawing, there also will be two home inspections that will also be up for grabs. Attendees will also have the opportunity to enter drawings for vacuum cleaners and gift cards from Lowe's and Home Depot which does not require them to have a pre approval for a mortgage loan.

When it comes to marketing, we've been marketing very heavily in all forms of media. The Juice one hundred seven point three, they will be our live host for the event this year. They began marketing for us on the radio in April and they'll continue that through the day of the fair. We also have multiple digital billboards and ads throughout the city, also in Spanish in certain zip codes O9, O5, and O4. Those billboards and digital ads will be in Spanish.

The communications department, as David spoke of, they've been very instrumental in our social media marketing and securing our WTOL series and multiple podcasts. So those series on WTOL actually begins tomorrow with David sitting next to me and also Faith Smith from Fifth Third Bank. To be more inclusive this year, we have also we also will be advertising in La Prinza, that will start Friday, advertising in The Truth which started today, and that's going to last up to the fair, so the four weeks leading up to the fair. As mentioned in the previous slide, we will also have a homebuyer education course in Spanish, and we'll have an additional translator from El Centro Smart Smart, also at the fair, to offer translation services. There will also be a live broadcast of Locopoco by De La Luce ninety six point five.

And one thing we also added in our registration was asking people if they needed any accommodations and instructing folks to call Valerie Fotika if they have any accessibility needs. So this year we have 14 sponsors. The platinum and gold sponsors are listed on your screen, but we also have 10 silver sponsors who donated at the $1,500 level. Those sponsors are Citizens Bank, F and M Bank, Genoa Bank, Key Bank, Nationwide Children's Hospital, Premier Bank, State Bank, The Lathrop Company, YMCA of Greater Toledo, and Ohio Financing Agency. We have 26 vendors that includes city departments and county departments also, DPS, DPU, the Land Bank, Engage Toledo, the Lucas County Treasurer and the Lucas County Auditor, Code Compliance, our department and also DE and I.

But also our sponsors also have vendor tables, so right now we have a total of 40 vendor tables that will be at the fair. And as of today, we have two twenty seven people who are registered to attend and 84 volunteers. So our goals for the fair are of course to promote equitable access to homeownership. The fair aims to empower individuals and families, especially first time homebuyers, low to moderate income households, and historically underserved communities to achieve the dream of homeownership. Connecting to the community resources is important.

Attendees will gain direct access to lenders, realtors, housing counselors, fair housing, and other non profit organizations all in one place. Fostering financial literacy and preparedness is also another goal of the fair. Through the workshops, the fair will focus on topics like budgeting, credit repair, down payment assistance, and avoiding predatory lending. The goal is not just to get people in the homes, but to keep them there through sustainable, informed ownership. Another goal of the fair is building partnerships for long term impact.

We bring together government agencies, local businesses, community organizations, and housing advocates to create a unified front in addressing the housing crisis. The fair encourages collaboration and shared commitment to increasing affordable housing and sustainable housing options. And then finally, just celebrating home ownership as a path to wealth and stability. Again, as David said, homeownership is one of the most effective ways to build generational wealth and community stability. This fair celebrates current homeowners, inspires future buyers, and affirms housing as a cornerstone of economic opportunity and dignity.

The fair is also designed as a launch pad for action. Attendees can leave not only with knowledge but also appointments, contacts and real next steps towards buying a home.

Thank you. Any questions? One other thing that we did forget to mention is that also one of the things is the lead knowledge. There will be in the book, in the resource guide, one of the pages there was all about how to handle lead dust all that, because we know that in the city, in Toledo, there are a lot of houses that were built before 'seventy eight, and before then, was prevalent to have lead paint. And so it is an issue that we still face today.

And so that is something that we also continue to impart knowledge and wisdom to the residents as much as we can. So yes, any questions?

Thank you. Thank you for the presentation. I you already answered one of my questions which was who sponsors the prize of the $10,000 down payment, which I think is amazing. Can you tell us you don't have to give us the name or identity of the person that won last year, but can you tell us, were they successful in using that down payment to purchase a house?

So, she was not able to use the down payment assistance, unfortunately, she wasn't quite ready to purchase. However, she did engage with Pathway and she's working with credit counseling, so she's learned a lot through her journey. She just wasn't ready quite yet to spend that money.

Is that one of the reasons you put the qualifier on that you have to be preapproved? Correct. Got it. Yeah. Because that is a barrier and a hurdle for many folks as well. It's incredible that you've gotten private sponsorship for this. I think that is really neat to see from the banks and other businesses in town. I hope this is really successful, like last year. You guys have really been knocking it out of the park lately, your department, and so this is really good stuff, very valuable for a new homeowner. I'm really proud of the work that you guys are doing, so this is great.

Before I ask my colleague, who has so generously given up his time to be at this committee that he is not a member of, do you need any more volunteers?

Well, we have 84 right now. Okay. And some of those people won't come, so yeah, we're still accepting volunteers until the

end of I'd like to sign up. So send me an email so I can be on the volunteer list because I I think this is a really, really neat thing. So Thank you. Council member Coma.

Thank you. And thanks to all of you. I just wanted to express my gratitude for what you do, of course. I popped into the fair last year and it was buzzing which is exciting. I'm sure it will be this year. I think my only question is, this is certainly aimed at people who are looking to buy for the first time. Is there a hope to maybe expand it into a space where it's about what to do once you own a home? Because there are a number of responsibilities for folks thinking about what refinancing looks like, thinking about, you know, there's any of these other issues. So just maybe, you know, as we move forward, are there any plans to expand the scope of what we're talking to folks about?

So I think that's a great opportunity and one that we don't currently have a roadmap for, but we could definitely look at and see what we can put together.

Awesome. Yeah. I just like I said, I think people I bought my home for the first time was it two years ago now. I I was one of those people who never thought I would to be quite frank. I was never really in a position where I felt comfortable even going on the process.

I also was a person who when it came to finances for a long time was I didn't have a lot of people who showed me that growing up or access to it. So as a result of that, I made some poor decisions in my early twenties that I had to correct. And and but being a person in that position is so daunting and scary because money is a tricky thing, you will. Finances are a tricky thing. And I think for those of us that were in positions like that or currently in them, there's a lot of shame and negative feelings that come with that.

And so I love that we have this opportunity for people to come and learn that they do not necessarily have the barriers that they might believe that they have, or they are a lot closer than they even thought they were before. But it can be such a hard thing to overcome, so I'm just grateful that we create a space for people to have that opportunity. So, thanks for your work.

Thank you.

Is there anyone from the public that would like to make a comment about National Home Ownership Month and the upcoming Home Ownership Fair? Oh, Mr. Names.

Good afternoon, Chairman. I think it's great that you're trying to improve home ownership. It's really lacking in Toledo. Everything that we can do is great and for all those reasons that you listed. Last Friday, the codes for the consolidated plan were due.

I submitted them to the housing department and also copies to Teresa Gaddis and Brittany Jones, respectively, the chair and vice chair of this committee. And I hope they ensure that the comments are responded to. That's all. Thank you.

Thank you. Seeing no further questions or public comment, this meeting is adjourned. Thank you, guys.

Thank you.