A New Outlook for Hollywood Apartments

Home is more than a roof over our heads, it’s a place for us to rest, learn, grow and make memories with loved ones. When our home is safe, clean and comfortable it provides us with a foundation from which we can thrive in day-to-day life. But for 34 apartment units in College Hill, this sense of home had started to deteriorate.

Hollywood Apartments, one of the largest residential complexes in College Hill, was owned and operated by an out-of-state landlord. The building had been in decline for several years until the property was acquired by College Hill Community Urban Redevelopment Corporation (CHCURC). Upon acquisition CHCURC and the residents identified over 400 deferred maintenance items that went unanswered, resulting in mold, leaky faucets, broken appliances, missing smoke and carbon monoxide detectors and more. CHCURC teamed up with a wide array of government and nonprofit organizations, including Greater Cincinnati Foundation, to acquire and renovate Hollywood Apartments without displacing residents or raising the cost of rent.

Affordable housing is an important piece of the work we do here at GCF. Data shows nearly 103,000 households in Hamilton County are spending more than 30% of their income on housing – affecting a family’s ability to pay for rent, utilities, food, and childcare costs. While there are many misconceptions about the term: “affordable housing”, it simply means any form of housing that costs 30% or less of a household’s income. According to the 2020 Housing Our Future Report, Hamilton County needs up to 40,000 more units of affordable housing for extremely low-income households. When places with naturally occurring affordable housing like Hollywood Apartments start to deteriorate, it impacts the well-being of the residents who call these locations home and our region’s housing stock.

Today, Hollywood Apartments boasts new floors, fresh paint, updated kitchens, efficient air conditioning and heating, a landscaped courtyard, and crack-free pavement. More importantly, the quality of life has improved for residents and a historic building that is a crucial part of our region’s housing stock has been preserved for generations to come. Learn more about how you can support affordable housing at www.gcfdn.org/affordable-housing.