The Ohio Housing Finance Agency (OHFA) recently awarded low-income housing tax credits to 10 developments that will leverage $500,000 to reduce infant mortality.
Located across the state, the housing developments will partner with organizations that will work with residents at risk of being impacted by infant mortality.
In its 2018-2019 qualified allocation plan, OHFA incentivized non-senior developments to enter into a partnership with an infant mortality prevention partner to provide education or services to residents of the development or the surrounding neighborhood. The infant mortality prevention partner was required to receive no less than $50,000 in programmatic funding. While OHFA did not directly fund this programming, developments that leveraged resources for these services received a competitive advantage in the housing tax credit application process.
The following organizations will each receive $50,000 through partnerships with owners of affordable housing to implement their proposed programs, which include prenatal health-care services, Head Start programs, safe sleep education, centering pregnancy, and more: Birthing Beautiful Communities, Community Action Commission of Fayette County, CareSource, CelebrateOne, Madison Health, Moms2B, and Clermont County Every Child Succeeds Program.
The organizations will work with residents in Cuyahoga, Fayette, Franklin, Madison, and Montgomery counties.
First Year Cleveland is receiving $150,000 from three developments for their proposed programs at La Villa Hispana MetroHealth District Affordable Housing Initiative and Legacy at Saint Luke's by CHN Housing Partners, and Village Green II by The NRP Group in Cuyahoga County. At these developments, First Year Cleveland will provide health-care services, emergency rental assistance, fatherhood initiatives, breastfeeding supports, pregnancy education courses, and other services to help parents and children thrive in their first year and beyond.
The other participating developments are Arrowleaf Apartments by the Columbus Housing Partnership (doing business as Homeport), Circle North Homes by Famicos Foundation, Courthouse Family Housing by Sunset Development and Investment, Daines Village Apartments by Wallick-Hendy Development Co., Northern Place Townhomes by Connect Realty, and RiverWorks Lofts by St. Mary Development Corp.
They were among 37 developments selected to receive more than $28 million in housing credits from OHFA in May. The communities will create 2,122 apartments for families, seniors, and people with disabilities.
While the overall infant mortality rate in Cuyahoga County is decreasing, the racial gap is widening. First Year Cleveland's mission is to reduce racial disparities in infant deaths, eliminate sleep-related deaths, and reduce preterm births. Thanks to these leveraged resources, the organization will be able to work directly with families living at the three developments.
Infant mortality is defined as the death of a live-born baby before his or her first birthday. In 2016, Ohio's infant mortality rate was 7.4 (per 1,000 live births), which was a slight increase from 2015. This rate has not significantly changed in the last decade, and Ohio's infant mortality rate remains one of the highest in the United States, ranking at 11th among all states. The Ohio Human Services Data Warehouse also concluded in a report this month that the most common age of people accessing Ohio's homelessness system was infants who had not yet reached their first birthday.
In December 2017, OHFA also provided nearly $1 million in funding to CelebrateOne to implement an innovative pilot program to reduce infant mortality in central Ohio.
