Cincinnati officials are taking a big swing at the city’s housing past, pushing a local reparations-style plan that aims to help residents who were shut out of homeownership for generations.
Vice Mayor Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney and Councilman Scotty Johnson are backing a proposal that would seed a new housing reparations program focused on neighborhoods shaped by segregation and discriminatory policies. The motion was introduced on Feb. 19 and is slated for the Cincinnati City Council agenda on March 4.
The plan asks for an initial $5 million and instructs the city administration to produce an annual public report on how the money is used. It also points to potential funding sources, including a tax on recreational marijuana and the city’s capital budget, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. Kearney told the outlet, "let's repair some of the damage done to low-income communities that kept the residents from owning homes and other real estate and prevented building of generational wealth." The motion, co-sponsored by Johnson, calls on city staff to design a Cincinnati real property reparations program for council to review.
Who Would Qualify And Where The Money Would Go
The proposal zeroes in on what it labels the "Rising 15," a group of neighborhoods described as either majority Black or home to significant Black populations. The list includes Lower Price Hill, Queensgate, English Woods, Millvale and the Villages at Roll Hill, among others, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Eligibility would focus on low- to moderate-income residents and on people, or their family members, who were blocked from buying homes because of discriminatory practices. The motion does not spell out specific qualifications, application rules or how large individual awards might be. Those details are being left to city staff and, ultimately, council to sort out later.
Grassroots Pressure And The Funding Fight
Local activists and community organizations have been nudging City Hall toward reparative policies for years, often arguing that Cincinnati should put its windfalls where its mouth is. Some have urged the city to devote portions of large one-time revenue boosts or trust funds to programs that tackle the racial wealth gap, a push documented by WCPO.
City leaders have already produced a Financial Freedom Blueprint that lays out sharp racial disparities in homeownership and wealth. Supporters of the new motion point to that roadmap as evidence that a reparations program would be responding to well-documented gaps, not guessing in the dark.
Decades Of Exclusion Behind Today’s Debate
The motion leans heavily on a long-running local record of policies that kept many Black Cincinnatians away from property ownership. That history stretches from early 20th century real estate rules to postwar urban renewal projects that bulldozed entire neighborhoods.
Researchers and historians have highlighted a 1920s Cincinnati Real Estate Board directive, later redlining and zoning policies that boxed Black families into limited areas and restricted their ability to build intergenerational wealth. The city has also formally apologized in recent years for displacements tied to its urban renewal plans, a story chronicled by CityBeat.
What Happens Next At City Hall
The measure is scheduled for council’s March 4 agenda. If members decide to advance it, city staff will be tasked with drafting the nuts and bolts of the program, including rules, application processes and reporting requirements.
Supporters are looking closely at cities that have already dipped a toe into municipal reparations. Most notably, Evanston, Illinois, used cannabis sales tax revenue to bankroll housing grants, setting a model for one possible funding stream and exposing some of the risks of tying long-term promises to a relatively narrow tax base, as reported by Inman.
For now, the big question in Cincinnati is whether a broad political promise to address past harm will translate into a concrete program with enough cash and staying power to matter for the "Rising 15" and the residents who call those neighborhoods home.
