Renters looking for housing in Cincinnati have a new resource for finding available units — a city of Cincinnati website aims to be a central hub for rental housing.
The website, apartments.cincinnati-oh.gov, is powered by Milwaukee-based CityWise Software, which operates housing websites in several smaller communities across the country. Cincinnati is the largest city to sign on.
Mayor Aftab Pureval says it costs the city nothing because most landlords pay a fee to list their units.
"While this is only a part of the equation for getting folks into their homes, it has the potential to make a real, positive and meaningful impact," Pureval said. "And when approached with this, our city said yes. We said yes to a new idea and found a way to make it work."
Pureval says landlords of subsidized affordable housing, as well as landlords with fewer than 20 units, can list on the website for free.
"What we see so often is these larger websites that have these exorbitant fees oftentimes price out the smaller landlords in any given community," Pureval said. "So residents and potential renters don't often see the full picture of available housing units."
The website includes a disclaimer that the city does not evaluate the quality of each unit or property management. Listings are vetted to prevent scams, however.
There are about 140 listings so far. Each has a "walkability score" based on how close the unit is to amenities like a grocery store, park, coffee shop, and laundromat.
CityWise Software offers additional customization, like including city data on building and health code violations on relevant properties, which could be added in the future.
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