RayLyn Whitis-Gunn is set to close on her first home next week — one that she helped build.
“When I got the news, I did not sit down. I stood for several hours,” Whitis-Gunn said. “It's a lot of beautiful work. But I think that having the house at the end of it — it's gonna feel monumental.”
Whitis-Gunn is one of the first people to go through the City of Hamilton’s Build Back the Block program, which aims to place first time homeowners in 100 new houses by 2030.
She applied for the initiative through Habitat for Humanity of Greater Cincinnati, one of the city’s partners that built seven of the project’s first homes this year.
Now, applications for the next four Habitat homes in Hamilton close on Monday, Oct. 26.
“If anyone's thinking about it and they're hesitant, I just really hope that they'll take that step and try something new,” said Whitis-Gunn, who added she felt similarly last year. “It kind of felt like throwing a Hail Mary because I was very sure. I was like, ‘I'm not who they're looking for.’”
Applicants must demonstrate they are a first time homeowner, have citizenship or permanent residence, meet certain credit and income thresholds and have a need for housing.
“Like they pay too much in rent, or so much of their funds goes towards the rent, or they live in a house where it's not suitable for their family size,” said Adriana Reyes, neighborhoods coordinator for the City of Hamilton.
A needs assessment for fiscal year 2027 conducted by the Ohio Housing Finance Agency shows many Southwest Ohioans would qualify under those conditions.
From 2019-2023, 24.4% of renters in the region were severely cost-burdened, meaning they spent at least half their income on housing.
But there’s not much affordable housing to come by: housing stock in Southwest Ohio increased just 9.6% from 2019-2024, compared to 32.1% statewide.
Reyes said the program aims to build more housing inventory while creating a stronger Jefferson neighborhood. In future years, Build Back the Block will expand to Riverview and Lindenwald, she added.
Reyes especially encourages Hamilton residents to apply.
In the first round, only two from the city were selected out of hundreds of applicants from the Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky region. Whitis-Gunn said one of her new neighbors was selected last year after three rounds of applying for a home through Habitat.
“You might not get it the first time. You might not even get it the second time,” Whitis-Gunn said. “Keep applying if it's something that you think would really work for you and your family.”
Habitat’s process is not something a traditional homebuyer, or even builder, goes through. A single applicant must complete 200 “sweat equity” hours, and two-applicant households must earn 300 hours.
Some of that time goes toward home maintenance, lawn care, construction and financial literacy classes — something Reyes said is very important for first time homeowners.
“They look at all your transactions because it's so easy to swipe,” Reyes said. “But then when you see it in hard concrete numbers — what you're spending on certain things — this helps people realize.”
But Whitis-Gunn said the bulk of sweat equity hours are spent on the construction site of either your future house or another Habitat project. That strategy helps the organization keep costs low, allowing the home to be sold below a traditional price.
For Whitis-Gunn, having a hand in the construction of her future home was most exciting.
“I know how to put insulation in a wall now, and like, I helped with the walls in my house,” she said. “Now every day I'll go to sleep and I'll be laying on my pillow and I'll go, ‘Oh, and I helped build this.’”
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