As housing affordability challenges intensify across communities nationwide, Ohio REALTORS® advanced a comprehensive, multi-year strategy to expand small-scale residential development and strengthen pathways to homeownership. Over three years, the association led a coordinated effort aligning local land-use policy, development practice, and state-level investment around a practical and scalable solution: small-format infill housing.
The centerpiece of this initiative is the Housing Ohio: Tools for Development Guidebook, a technical and policy resource designed for local governments, developers, land banks, and homeowners. The guidebook includes professionally designed, no-cost building plans for a narrow single-family home and a front-back duplex, paired with a framework for establishing pre-approved permitted building plan programs. Together, these tools reduce regulatory friction, shorten approval timelines, and provide communities with a model for increasing housing supply within existing neighborhoods.
Recognizing that design tools alone are insufficient without supportive policy, Ohio REALTORS® pursued legislative solutions to reinforce local implementation. Through sustained advocacy, the association helped secure state programs that align funding, infrastructure, and financing mechanisms with infill development and owner-occupied housing outcomes.
“This work grew directly out of conversations with local leaders,” said Veronica Cardello, Assistant Vice President of External Engagement for Ohio REALTORS®. “Our Local Government Forum identified a shared challenge across Ohio communities – limited housing options constrained by outdated processes – and pushed for an approach that emphasized consistency, local control, and scalability rather than one-off solutions.”
The initiative began with an Issues Mobilization Grant supporting research and policy analysis in partnership with the Greater Ohio Policy Center. While cities nationwide were beginning to experiment with pre-approved housing plans, Ohio lacked a clear framework for integrating these
programs within its home-rule structure and local zoning authority. To ground the research in practice, Ohio REALTORS® convened a year-long advisory panel and conducted nearly 50 stakeholder meetings statewide with mayors, council members, planning staff, land banks, developers, and REALTORS®.
Building on this foundation, a subsequent grant enabled the association to pilot and refine the toolkit through monthly stakeholder encounters. Following completion of the guidebook, a second Issues Mobilization Grant supported a coordinated statewide advocacy effort that resulted in three integrated legislative outcomes: a $1.5 million Housing Technical Assistance Program, which provides Ohio political subdivisions including villages, cities, townships, and counties with resources to modernize zoning codes and comprehensive plans, removing regulatory barriers and accelerating housing investment at the local level; a $25 million Residential Economic Development District Grant Program; and a $100 million Residential Development Revolving Loan Fund, both designed to catalyze small-scale residential construction and redevelopment.
Even prior to enactment of the legislation, three local REALTOR® associations, Dayton REALTORS®, the Guernsey-Muskingum Valley Association of REALTORS®, and the Licking County Board of REALTORS®, secured Housing Opportunity Grants to pilot the plans locally and introduce communities to the new development framework.
The results have been immediate and measurable. More than 100 Ohio communities have expressed interest in the program, with approximately ten actively pursuing adoption and many others engaged in exploratory discussions. The Summit County Land Bank has developed a locally tailored design inspired by the toolkit, while Toledo is adapting the duplex plan into four-, six-, and eight-unit configurations. The first home constructed using the plans is expected to be completed by a private developer in Cleveland later this year. Ohio REALTORS® has also engaged modular-home manufacturers to analyze construction costs and explore standardized, pre-built options.
According to Cardello, early and sustained engagement was critical to the initiative’s success. “Because local leaders were involved from the outset, the transition from concept to implementation was seamless,” she said. “What began as a policy conversation has become a replicable model now drawing interest from other states facing similar housing challenges.”
To learn more about Ohio REALTORS®’ work to advance infill housing and homeownership across the state, contact Veronica Cardello, Assistant Vice President of External Engagement, at cardello@ohiorealtors.org or 724.556.9968.
Post a comment