Cincinnati residents were once again asked to weigh a charter amendment to address the city's housing needs.
They once again decided against it, with 69 percent of voters in the city casting a "no" ballot against the measure.
But the proposed amendment to the city's charter was a bit different than the one voters turned down by a similarly wide margin in 2021.
A coalition of nonprofits and faith groups called Cincinnati Action for Housing Now presented the ballot initiative. It would have raised Cincinnati's earnings tax from its current 1.8% back to 2.1% — the level it was at prior to a reduction as part of Hamilton County's Issue 22 transit and infrastructure levy in 2019. Action for Housing Now said the 0.3% increase would have cost the average Cincinnatian about $132 a year and would have raised between $40-$50 million a year.
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Detractors — including the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber and many city officials — said the city shouldn't raise its earnings tax and shouldn't tie itself to spending so much money on housing when it faces financial challenges in the years ahead.
The ballot language required the money go into a fund that would pay for construction of housing affordable to people making at or below 80% of the area's median income (AMI). It also stipulated 65% of that spending must be focused on housing for people making at or below 30% AMI.
Recent studies suggested that Cincinnati needs between 19,000 and 28,000 more units of housing affordable at that level, which equates to roughly $21,000 a year for a single person.
It would have actually taken two votes to do what advocates hoped for. The amendment on the ballot Nov. 7 would have created the fund, but a separate charter amendment put on the ballot by Cincinnati City Council in November 2024 would have been needed to enact the tax increase.
Most candidates running for the nine seats on City Council this year said they did not support Issue 24, with many citing a reluctance to raise taxes and the fact that the city faces a $25 million deficit in its operating budget.
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Instead, councilmembers touted other efforts to create more affordable housing, including a housing advisory board, a revolving loan pool to help close gaps in financing for affordable housing development, and use of some stimulus funds toward affordable housing projects.
They also pointed to the city's affordable housing trust fund. That fund was first proposed by then-Councilmember David Mann and approved by Council in 2018. Money meant for that particular fund has been diverted in subsequent years into another account now overseen by the nonprofit Cincinnati Development Fund.
But advocates for Issue 24 pointed out the criteria for that funding is different than the proposal by Cincinnati Action for Housing Now and the original affordable housing trust fund. The CDF process allows city funds to go toward projects with higher rents at 100% of the area median income — up to $1,000 for a studio apartment.