Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

If youve ever been owned by a cat, you know about cats and doors. Yes, you read that sentence correctly. Anyone who has a cat at home realizes it is the cat who does the owning and not vice versa.

Cats simply cannot abide closed doors, and our cat Puddin is a perfect example of that phenomenon. The last few months have been quite trying for the little princess because I began closing the bedroom door at night to keep the dog in.

Ive written before about Banjos doggie dementia and his new habit of going downstairs several times a night to bark at his water bowl in the kitchen until someone that would be me goes downstairs and escorts him back to the bedroom. I solved that problem by locking him in the bedroom at night, but the door being shut was an issue for Puddin.

Its not that she wants to be in the bedroom all night. Its that she wants the ability to come and go as she pleases. It was entertaining to see her little white paws appear under the door as she tried to open the darned thing. Id hear the door rattle and look up from my book to see those adorable paws. Once I turned out the light, I assumed she gave up, but no!

One night, I was awakened from a sound sleep when the door banged against the wall in the wee hours. I hadnt latched it well enough, and Puddin pushed and pushed until it opened. I sat up in bed, and she leaped onto my legs meowing indignantly. I think she said, What were you thinking? or something to that effect.

I tried shutting the door more firmly, but Puddin broke in another time or two. Finally, I left the door cracked open with a shoe in front of it to keep it from opening wide. That was fine by Puddin because she can squeeze through tiny spaces.

Puddins trials and tribulations began anew when we finished remodeling the guest bathroom on the main floor. Looking ahead to aging in place and the possibility of one of us needing a walker, we enlarged the shower and put in a pocket door to provide a wider entrance.

The construction didnt bother the princess, but she had an issue with the new sliding door to the shower being closed. I was blissfully unaware of her distress until I was drinking coffee in my easy chair early one morning and heard a strange persistent noise. It sounded like something or someone was falling. Thankfully, it was only Puddin trying to get in the shower. Another problem easily solved by sliding the door slightly open.

Next, it was the pocket door that irritated her. When we crank up the wood-burning stove during cold spells, we close the doors to the bedroom, dining room and bathroom on the main level. The dining room doors are small French doors Puddin has learned to push open an inch or two, but the bathroom door was something new.

Again, I heard a loud noise. I headed to the guest bath, and sure enough, the princess was rattling the pocket door by pushing it with her paws and nose. I took pity on her and cracked it open a few inches.

With the door issues handled, Puddin has shifted her attention to the new television and chest in the living room; and dogs, doors, and cats are living in harmony at least for now.

Kathy is a Sandy Springs resident. Find her books, Lord Banjo the Royal Pooch and The Ink Penn: Celebrating the Magic in the Everyday, at the Enchanted Forest and on Amazon. Contact her at inkpenn119@gmail.com.

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Solving the problem of dogs, doors and cats - Dunwoody Crier

After the hectic years of child-rearing end and grown children move out, many empty nesters find themselves in a state of adjustment.

While some rejoice in their leaner schedules and newfound quiet, others deal with loneliness and depression, often referred to as empty-nest syndrome. In either case, most empty nesters eventually reach a point where they ask themselves :Is it time to downsize, upsize or just renovate and configure their current home?

A recent report from Freddie Mac found that baby boomers have stayed in their homes much longer than previous generations. A 2019 report from Houzz, a home-remodeling website, found that 60% of baby boomers defined as people ages 55 to 74 planned to stay in their homes for the next 11 or more years. Older Americans tend to move into residential care communities in their mid-80s, according to data available from the National Center for Health Statistics, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

For those who opt to stay in their empty nests, many decide it is a good time to finally do the renovations they might have put off in previous years. These home makeovers tend to fall into three broad categories: fixing a space to make room for a new lifestyle or hobby; sprucing up a now unused space so it can be rented out to create a new revenue stream; or renovating to make a home more comfortable for visits from adult children and their expanding families.

Taking the time to figure out how you want your empty nest to affect your lifestyle will help you figure out how to reconfigure a home, said Robin Baron, an interior designer with her own firm in Manhattan. Many of her empty-nest clients have approached her after deciding they want to entertain more, but shes had to pick apart what that means.

Do you want to have more dinner or cocktail parties? Do you want to host fundraisers or just have several friends over for a movie night? Will you do the cooking or hire caterers? The word entertain is too broad, so you must narrow that down, then come up with the design, she said.

Mary Ann Gioeli, a publishing executive, said she knew immediately what she wanted to do when her son moved out. About two weeks after Ryan, now 30, left their Upper West Side apartment for the Air Force in 2014, she threw out the gross black leather couch that was in his room and repainted the formerly bright blue space a neutral white. To turn the room into a den, she bought new furniture, including a pullout couch, and moved the television from the living room.

Even if you have no plans to sell the home for another 10 years, it's a wise thing to do

For Gioeli, 67, this was the first step in transforming her three-bedroom apartment into a more adult space. Although she was thrilled her home had been the go-to hangout for her son and daughter, Francesca, now 32, and their friends during their adolescence, she longed to turn the large, bright apartment into a quieter space. Somewhere you can have a conversation, she said.

When her daughter left to rent her own apartment in 2016, Gioeli turned her bedroom into a proper guest room. Out went the dated furniture, in came a queen-size bed. These renovations cost a few thousand dollars and were paid for from savings, said Gioeli, who is separated from her husband.

In late 2016, she finally tackled what the family had longed to do: a complete revamp of the dated bathrooms. A tub in the master bath was removed, and a walk-in shower was installed. Double sinks and new storage spaces were added, as well as a new marble floor. The guest bathroom was also thoroughly updated, with a glass-encased shower replacing a former closet space. A home-equity loan covered the $65,000 price tag to renovate both bathrooms.

I told my kids they will always have a home to return to, said Gioeli, whose daughter boomeranged back home this year. But its been great to be able to open up my home and have friends stay over.

Brad and Karen Hacker of Cooper City, Florida, who live about 15 miles southwest of Fort Lauderdale, slowly transformed their home after their two sons, Lane and Drew, now 29 and 25, moved out for good in 2014 and 2018.

Karen Hacker said their four-bedroom home needed a lot of upgrades, as renovations to their home of 26 years had largely been held off to save money for their childrens college education. But as different parts of the home started to wear down, the couple saw it as their chance to revamp it for themselves.

A citation from their homeowners association requiring them to pressure-clean the outside of the house prompted them to repaint both the exterior and interior. A broken washing machine resulted in the decluttering and reorganization of the laundry room. In 2017, when the pavers in the backyard started to sink and needed repair, the couple took a moment to reflect whether they should tackle yet another home improvement project or just sell the house. But with most of their friends still nearby (only one close couple had moved away), they decided to stay.

I told my kids they will always have a home to return to ... But it's been great to be able to open up my home and have friends stay over

Their most fun upgrade, they said, was to turn a childs bedroom into an exercise space. They first repainted the room and brought in a TV, treadmill and free weights. Karen Hacker, 54, who formerly worked in human resources, carved out a space for her yoga mat.

Last year, the Hackers, who blog about their empty-nest life, bought a Peloton bike to replace the treadmill. Professing his competitiveness, Brad Hacker, 60, an accountant, said that he exerted himself more because he likes seeing how his performance ranks with others during his workouts but that he enjoys competing against his sons the most. The couple also installed a small infrared sauna in the room this year, so far spending about $5,000 of their savings.

Building the exercise room also turned out to be a real time saver for us, Karen Hacker said, as it eliminated having to drive to and from the gym.

Some empty nesters decide to turn their now unused space into extra income. Hollis Giammatteo, a writer, used about $180,000 from savings to gut-renovate her daughters old basement bedroom and turn it into an Airbnb rental. Inspired by a friend who had done something similar, Giammatteo, who lives in the Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle, said she preferred to lease the space short term because the city is a high-demand tourist and business destination and she is able to keep the unit regularly booked. She said that using an online portal had made it easy to block out specific days when friends and family planned to stay with her. She estimated she had grossed around $125,000 since her first rental in 2015.

That said, she advises those interested in turning unused space into a short-term rental to investigate local laws. You have to be willing to take on bureaucracy, Giammatteo, 71, said. Depending on the area, you may need insurance, a business license and to pay taxes on income, she said.

Others, like Peggy Griffin of Wellesley, Massachusetts, prefer renting out an unused bedroom to long-term boarders. Griffin, an employee of the Federal Transit Administration, said she didnt want to be a hotelier and liked that she could help keep rents more affordable in the Boston area.

After two of her triplets permanently moved out in 2013, she found tenants through Nesterly, an online home-share service that vets potential renters. Griffin, 61, said she simply cleaned out the bedroom before her first boarder moved in. She charges $1,100 a month for a bedroom with a private bath, and she plans to use the extra income to fix the roof on her 1868 four-bedroom home.

Building the exercise room also turned out to be a real time saver for us

I already know repairing the roof will lead to fixing the siding and the windows, she said.

Updating a homes look, not preparing it for sale, was the goal of 71% of consumers age 50 and older who either had completed a home renovation in the past two years or were in the middle of or planning to begin a remodel in the next six months, according to a survey taken by the Schlesinger Group for Sweeten, an online renovation platform.

We see renovations ranging from updating a bathroom to include a two-person soaking tub to gut remodels that convert bedrooms into hobby rooms from art to yoga, said Jean Brownhill, Sweetens founder.

That said, experts suggest that homeowners check with a local broker before starting a large-scale renovation to see if their design will have resale value.

Even if you have no plans to sell the home for another 10 years, its a wise thing to do, said Dave Goscinski, the owner of JJED Remodeling in Dumont, New Jersey. Youre doing the renovation for yourselves, but can you recoup the investment later?

Goscinski finished working on a kitchen renovation for Maria and Edward Matera of Hackensack, New Jersey, at the beginning of 2017. The couple wanted an updated kitchen and a larger space to host their immediate family, which includes two grown children and their spouses and four grandchildren, as well as relatives from Italy and California, and friends and neighbors.

They reconfigured and rebuilt the addition to the back of the house, providing them with a spacious new dining area and a new deck that allows them to grill year-round. And a pass-through window that was installed between the kitchen and living room has come in handy during her book club gatherings, said Maria Matera, 71.

To pay for the $125,000 job, the Materas refinanced their mortgage.

In previous years, they also turned an unfinished basement into a den and guest room, while an unused bedroom was turned into a guest room and office. I feel like I have so much more space, said Maria Matera, a retired teacher.

Her children say they are happy with the spruced-up house. Our family has always loved food and gatherings around the table, said Damian Matera, 44. My sister, Adriana, and I are thrilled that our parents dream kitchen has become a reality and that the new addition will further our love for good food and time together.

Mary Dell Harrington, a homeowner in Mamaroneck, New York, and the co-founder of the parenting website Grown & Flown, is working with an architect to update her kitchen so it can accommodate her grown children, who visit often and love to cook. Her two children, Walker Berning, 29, and Annie Berning, 24, both live in Manhattan but often come home on the weekends, cooking elaborate meals with lots of ingredients I typically dont keep on hand, she said.

But the old kitchen is too cramped. Harrington wants to knock down a wall between the kitchen and dining room and install a larger kitchen island to accommodate the crowd, which also includes her husband, Melvin Berning, 65, their two large Labrador retrievers and a nephew who attends a nearby college. Although plans are not final, shes hoping theres room for a proper pantry.

Mary Harrington, 64, a former television marketing executive and the co-author of the book Grown & Flown: How to Support Your Teen, Stay Close as a Family, and Raise Independent Adults, said previous renovations were stressful and daunting when she worked full time and the children were younger and still living at home.

Now Im home to deal with contractors or any emergency, so it should be easier, she said. What we aspire to is not to push our kids away as they grow older but to enter the next phase and be able to hang out with them as they become more independent.

For some empty nesters, however, this is not an easy transition to make. Some parents have complicated emotions about watching their children move on, according to Jane Benjamin, a psychologist and clinical director at the Counseling Center in Bronxville, New York. Pride and joy can be also mixed with envy or regret, Benjamin said. It can also be a reckoning of aging, that things are beyond them, and that can be a vulnerable feeling.

For empty nesters who have kept their kids bedroom as a shrine to their past (read: trophies, primary- or bright-colored walls), Benjamin suggests working in stages. Make your children take what theyd like to keep, retain a few mementos for yourself and get rid of the rest.

Replacing the single bed with a larger bed would be ideal for returning adult children with partners. Personalizing the newfound space might be a fun project and help you accept that youre in a next stage in life, she said.

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Once the kids grow up and leave, what are parents to do with their empty nest? - National Post

Permits to build new apartment buildings in the U.S. are surging as a bulging population of millennials fuels demand for rentals and low interest rates ease construction financing costs.

Authorizations for larger multifamily dwellings those with five or more units jumped to an average annualized pace of 501,000 in the three months through November, according to government data Tuesday, Dec. 17. That's the highest since July 2015. Prior to that year, which was a hot one for condos and apartments, it's the strongest since 1987.

The rental market is booming as young people leave dorm rooms and their parents' basements to strike out on their own. Baby boomers are also downsizing from single-family homes. At the same time, lower interest rates are making it easier for homebuilders who want to meet this demand for rental properties.

"Clearly, we're seeing some re-acceleration in multifamily," Robert Dietz, chief economist for the National Association of Home Builders, said by phone. "It's a bit of surprise."

There are 76 million people in the U.S. who have recently entered or will be entering the housing market, mostly as renters, according to the National Multifamily Housing Council. That suggests a lot of pent-up demand and a positive outlook for the sector.

The data indicate multifamily housing permits are set to buoy overall home building data in the fourth quarter and into 2020, as it takes between one to two months for permits to transition to starts. At the same time, high construction costs and a shortage of workers could create delays in commencing construction.

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Apartment building permits soar to a four-year high amid rental boom - Crain's Cleveland Business

Construction on Emma Ave. in Springdale is underway. It'll be the site of 26 apartments in mixed-use area

by: Ninette Sosa

SPRINGDALE, Ark. (KNWA) The City of Springdale is creating more living space for people in one of its fastest growing areas.

The Emma Building Group broke ground on the first mixed-use, multi-family apartment complex in the citys downtown area.

Located on Emma Avenue, the 26-unit apartment complex is Phase One of a larger project the building group has planned for the corridor.

The project will create more walking availability in the Downtown area. There will be access to the Razorback Greenway along with commercial and office spaces.

So were going to have commercial on the front bottom floor, residential upstairs and behind. So you get good traffic all day long, said Emma Building Groups Tom Lundstrum.

The building group say plans for occupancy are for late 2020, with pre-leasing slated for spring 2020.

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Construction underway for mixed-use apartments on Emma Ave. - KNWA

A five story, 114-unit apartment building set to open in 2021 will round out Hubbell Realty Co.'s rental offerings in the Bridge District, a rapidly developing neighborhood in the East Village.

Located on the north end of the development near Interstate 235, the Level building will have a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom units. Construction of the $26.9 million apartment building is expected to begin in early 2020.

The Bridge District is on the east bank of the Des Moines River, stretching from Des Moines Street to Interstate 235and from Robert D. Ray Drive to East Fourth Street.

Level, the last apartment planned for the Bridge District, will have 114 units in five stories.(Photo: Hubbell Realty Co./Special to the Register)

The16-acre developmentis considered downtown Des Moines' only neighborhood in the traditional sense, with front doors and flower pots lining thenarrow streets where one-story warehouses once stood.

By 2025, when the company expects the neighborhood to be completed, the Bridge District will have nearly 500 housing units.

More: The newest downtown Des Moines neighborhood is so popular people are buying homes before the foundation is poured

Like the neighborhood's existing apartment buildings, Level will offer a wide array of amenities,includingindoor, climate-controlled parking, an indoor and outdoor fitness area, bicycle and kayak storage, a dog park and an "oversized patio" off the fifth-floor mezzanine, according to Hubbell Realty Co.

Level, the last apartment planned for the Bridge District, will have 114 units in five stories.(Photo: Hubbell Realty Co./Special to the Register)

The company is scheduled to present its design plans to the city's Urban Design Review Board on Tuesday.

Staff have worked with Hubbell Realty Co. on the design features of Levelbecause the building will be "highly visible on all sides, including prominent viewshedsfrom both banks of the Des Moines River," according to a city memo.

Level's building materials will have visual interest, as well as prominent landscape features, a streetscape, and a "visually interesting" curvature of the private drive, the memo says.

Ten percent of the units will be affordable torenters earning approximately 80% of the area median income. That's an annual salary of $49,000 for a single person and $56,000 for a family of two, according to the Polk County Housing Trust Fund.

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The Bridge District caters to a mix of homeowners and renters. Two apartment buildings, Verve and Velocity, have a total of 243 units. Velocity is 100% occupied; Verve is 93%.

Hubbell Realty Co. has sold 42 townhomes in a development known as The Bankssince 2017. Forty-four are complete; another 10 are under construction.

The 1,800- to 3,500-square feet townhomes come in a variety of floor plans, ranging in price from$375,000 to $750,000.

Constructions of athird phase of townhomes is expected to start in 2020. There will be a total of 120 owner-occupied townhomes in the Bridge District.

Kim Norvell covers growth and development for the Register. Reach her at knorvell@dmreg.com or 515-284-8259.

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Five-story, 114-unit apartment building planned for the Bridge District in the East Village - Des Moines Register

The second apartment building could open in February, said Killgore, who gave The Times a tour of the property this week.

When completed, the complex will feature a four-story main building in the center of the property that will house amenities, clubhouse and leasing offices. Amenities include an outdoor pool, fitness area, outdoor grills and fire pit, cyber cafe, pet spa and dog park.

The idea is for (the complex) to feel like a resort, Killgore said.

The development will feature 1-, 2- and 3-bedroom units, and for an extra charge, residents can rent a garage. Apartment rental rates werent available.

The complex will feature carriage units where residents wont have neighbors living above or below them just next to them.

Everything will be done by July, Killgore said.

The company was attracted to Gainesville because there has been significant job growth in this market with very little (apartment) supply delivered, he said.

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When The Mill at New Holland apartment complex will open to residents - Gainesville Times

Proposed rendering of 324 Macon Street as it appears on the Macon Street streetscape./Image Credit: Gerald J. Caliendo Architects

The applicants and Landmarks staff will work together to modify details for the proposed building. On December 3, 2019, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to approve a certificate of appropriateness to construct a new three-story residential building on a vacant lot at 324 Macon Street, Brooklyn, located within the Bedford Stuyvesant/Expanded Stuyvesant Heights Historic District.

The lot was formerly the site of a three-story building which was built around 1889 and was demolished around 1967. The former building was designed by William Zang, the architect who designed the nearby 326 Macon Street and 330 Macon Street rowhouses.

The new building is designed by Gerald J. Caliendo Architects. Lakshmi Samlal of Gerald J. Caliendo Architects stated that the architects tried to replicate the style and details of 326 and 330 Macon Street in the buildings proposed design while adhering to zoning bulk regulations on the 324 Macon Street lot.

Left Image: 326 Macon Street/Image Credit: Google MapsRight Image: 330 Macon Street and detail of door/Image Credit: Gerald J. Caliendo Architects

In the proposed design, the new building has a brownstone colored cast stone front faade with a Neo-Greco style cornice with geometric ornament on top of the building. The cornice was modeled off of the cornice on the 326 Macon Street building. The front faade has wood single hung windows with pediments and cast stone surrounds that span across the third-floor faade and one single hung window will be on the east side of the second-floor faade. Two bay windows stacked on the other span vertically on the west side of the building from the first-floor faade to the second-floor faade on the west side. The bay windows have metal paneling that is painted to match the front faades brownstone color. The door is a brown Neo-Greco style single entry door with pediments and cast stone surrounds modeled after the door of the 330 Macon Street building. The stairs leading up to the door are tinted concrete that matches the brownstone color. An iron railing is included in front of the building and it matches the railing in front of 326 Macon Street. The rear faade of the building is grey stucco.

The new building will be located within the Bedford Stuyvesant/Expanded Stuyvesant Heights Historic District. The district is predominantly characterized by row houses and small apartment buildings with ground floor commercial space built in the late-19th century. The streetscape of Macon Street where the lot is located is characterized by Neo-Greco, Italianate, and Romanesque Revival style brownstone row houses. The significant architectural features found on these buildings include cornices with geometric ornaments, stucco rear-facades, iron railings, and door and windows framed with pediments.

Vice Chair Frederick Bland stated that the proposed design is a replication that just misses and believed that more work needs to be done to ensure the design details are more appropriate for the district. Commissioner Michael Goldblum also agreed and recommended that the rear faade should be brick instead of stucco.

Brittany Thomas testified on behalf of the Historic Districts Council. The Historic Districts Council believed that the proposed doorway is not acceptable for the building and explained that 330 Macon Streets door design would have been appropriate for the proposed buildings door if the door was a double entry door like 330 Macon Street.

Evelyn Colliers, Brooklyn Community Board 3s Landmarks Committee Chair, testified on behalf of the committee. Brooklyn Community Board 3s Landmarks Committee believed that doorway was inappropriate for the proposed building and the bay windows were too large compared to other bay windows in the district.

Landmarks voted to approve the certificate of appropriateness, however, Landmarks Chair Sarah Carroll asked that the applicants work with Landmarks staff to modify the buildings design details in order for the building to fit better with the streetscape. Specifically, the Commission recommended the buildings rear faade to be brick rather than stucco and wanted to refine the details of the buildings bay windows, cornice, iron railing, and entrance infill.

By: May Vutrapongvatana (May is the CityLaw Fellow and New York Law School Graduate, Class of 2019).

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Landmarks Approves New Building Construction in Bedford Stuyvesant/Expanded Stuyvesant Heights HD, Brooklyn - CityLand

The fire in the Lacrosse building in 2014 Melbourne heralded the beginning of intense focus on the quality of building work in Australia.

2020 will see that focus continue. Many of the Victorian Governments taskforce findings and recommendations are now making their way into policies and proposals for long term structural changes in the regulation of building work. Many in the development and construction industry are also taking a pro-active approach in seeking to identify more effective ways of producing quality, compliant buildings and not relying on regulation to achieve that.

In 2020, we expect to see:

For a building project with a value of $25 million, the additional levy will add approximately $205,000 to the cost of the development. Those funds will be used by Cladding Safety Victoria for the rectification of extreme and high risk buildings with non-compliant external cladding;

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Combustible cladding and other building defects - what does 2020 hold for the industry? - Lexology

by Kerrie KennedyDecember 18, 2019

What if there were a simple way to solve the nations inventory and related affordability problem? Industry experts have been wringing their hands about the issue for years, but a new report from Zillow says theres an easy answer: Relax zoning rules in single-family neighborhoods.

According to the Zillow report, allowing just one in 10 single-family homeowners in a given neighborhood to build a backyard cottage, add a basement apartment or put a livable in-law suite above a garage would provide a solution to the housing affordability crisis. Moreover, it isnt likely to drastically alter the existing streetscape.

Single-family neighborhoods account for the vast majority of land in metropolitan America, but local regulations have effectively prevented them from becoming denser. Some cities have found a solution by expanding outward, but not every city has the land to do so and sprawl tends to increase pollution and commute time. Its a growing problem that has led to skyrocketing prices in large cities across the country.

In the South, where historically its been easier to build new homes on the periphery, prices have risen a little more than 10 percent over the past 20 years. But in the Los Angeles metro area, for example, median home values have more than doubled over the past 20 years. Similarly, in the San Francisco Bay Area, they have nearly doubled, and in Seattle, prices have increased by almost two-thirds.

While housing starts are up across the nation, industry experts say that isnt nearly enough to keep up with population growth and new household formation. Building at current levels is expected to produce about 10 million new homes across 17 metros nationwide over the next two decades. But allowing for two units on just 10 percent of single-family lots would add an additional 3.3 million homes to the mix, a 27 percent increase in inventory.

In Boston, an additional 368,362 homes are expected to be built by 2040 under the current status quo. However, if one in 10 single-family lots were allowed to add a second unit, an additional 189,581 homes could be built a boost of 51 percent.

Both adding more units to single-family lots and changing zoning to allow triplexes, quadplexes and townhomes could reignite development even further, the report said. Cities like Minneapolis and Oregon have already taken steps in that direction by allowing the construction of accessory dwelling units.

If it [were] just a few more affordable apartment buildings it wouldnt be a problem, but we need a lot of additional supply to put the pace of long-term price and rent growth in line with income and wage growth, said Skylar Olsen, Zillows director of economic research, adding that ADUs are a less disruptive way to get the job done. Asking a few neighborhoods to absorb that change on their own is asking for a community to accept a totally different neighborhood in the future a neighborhood different from the one they bought into and grew to love.

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The solution to the affordability crisis is right in our backyards, says a new report - Boston Agent Magazine

CINCINNATI After a 25-year career as a machinist and 11 years in the same Over-the-Rhine apartment, Daniel Eubanks never expected to be homeless at this point in his life.

But Eubanks ended up out on the street this past summer after the building where he lived was sold.

Now, a week before Christmas, hes spending his days at the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County in Downtown and his nights at The David and Rebecca Barron Center for Men homeless shelter in Queensgate.

Its the community, said Eubanks, 63, explaining why the Peete Street apartment was so important to him. I went to Rothenberg, which is just a street over. I got grandkids in this neighborhood that need support and theyve tooken that all away from me.

Hes far from alone.

The regions shortage of low-income housing combined with a push for redevelopment in the urban core have left a growing number of people struggling to find decent housing they can afford, said John Schrider, director of the Legal Aid Society of Southwest Ohio.

Its actually kind of a good news, bad news kind of story, said Schrider, who also serves as chairman of the local Affordable Housing Advocates. Good news for some people but bad news for people at the lower end of the ladder.

Courtesy of Daniel Eubanks

There could be more good news on the horizon.

Community leaders are working to complete a 10-year housing strategy for Greater Cincinnati thats aimed at solving the communitys affordable housing crisis.

The recommendations are scheduled to be finished in February and could help thousands of local residents living in housing that consumes an outsized chunk of their income, said Kathy Schwab, executive director of LISC Greater Cincinnati.

RELATED: City leaders pledge action, plan for affordable housing crisis

We have tons of recommendations around tenant protections and anti-gentrification policies, Schwab said. It is a humongous problem.

Eubanks is feeling it.

For more than a decade, he has had a housing choice voucher, more commonly known as Section 8. Eubanks thought that would make it easier for him to find a new place to live after he had to leave his place at 212 Peete St.

But he has struggled for more than four months to find a decent place that will accept his voucher and can pass inspection, he said.

This final place Im trying to get into now failed three inspections. It seemed promising if they can just get through the inspection, Eubanks told WCPO. The first failure was the stove. The second failure was the stove.

The landlord tried to put him in a different unit, he said.

That failed as well, he said. But it wasnt the stove. It was the electrical outlets.

Several recommendations that Schwab expects to be part of her groups final report could offer help to people in Eubanks situation.

Slowing down the problem

One recommendation relates to policies prohibiting income discrimination.

Such a policy would prohibit landlords from discriminating against people who have government vouchers to help pay their rent. The city currently has an ordinance related to income discrimination but doesnt enforce it, Schwab said.

The group developing a 10-year housing strategy wants to see the city of Cincinnati enforce its ordinance and would like to see Hamilton County adopt a similar measure, she said.

Another recommendation could be to require landlords to give tenants more notice if they are being forced out by redevelopment.

Schwab said the idea behind that recommendation would be that any property owner who receives city funding for redevelopment would have to give tenants six months to find a new place to live instead of just 30 days.

That wont create more housing, but it could slow down the problem and help reduce homelessness, she said.

Lucy May | WCPO

The group also wants to see the city establish dedicated, annual sources of funding for the Affordable Housing Trust Fund to promote development and preservation of affordable housing, Schwab said in an email.

A 2017 study by Xavier Universitys Community Building Institute found that for every 100 of the lowest-income households in Hamilton County, there are only 28 units of housing that are affordable and available.

To have enough for everyone, the county would need 40,000 more units of affordable housing for families with an annual household income of $14,678 or less, the study found.

That doesnt mean the city and county need to build 40,000 units of housing to meet the need, Schwab said.

We have a lot of vacant housing, she said.

Plus, if local governments encourage the construction of more housing for middle class families, that would open up lower-cost housing naturally, she said.

People like Eubanks, though, just need that one place that will work.

Eubanks said he thought he had it with the apartment at 212 Peete St., where he lived for 11 years, but that all changed last summer.

Eviction predicament

A lawyer for the former owner of the building filed to have Eubanks evicted in June, telling the court that he owed $2,880 in back rent.

Eubanks was responsible for a portion of the rent as a recipient of a Section 8 voucher. He said his share totaled a little over $100 per month.

Stuart Richards, the lawyer who represented the former property owner, said his notes about the case indicated that the former landlord, Guilene Cadet, said Eubanks had not paid his portion of the rent for more than two years.

Eubanks said thats because he had a deal with Cadet. She told him that if he maintained the building for her while she lived out of town, he didnt have to pay his portion of the rent, Eubanks said.

I guess once she tried to sell the building, she wanted me out of there, he said.

Eubanks said he explained the situation in court, and the magistrate ultimately told him to pay $200 and move out without getting evicted.

Lucy May | WCPO

Ive done everything in good faith, Eubanks said.

He agreed to pay up and move out to avoid having an eviction on his record, he said.

WCPO could not reach Cadet for comment. Richards said he didnt recall those details of the case but thought maybe Eubanks hadn't done what Cadet expected of him.

Hamilton County Municipal Court records show the court ordered a writ of eviction on Aug. 1, after the building already had been sold, but the eviction was never carried out.

Eubanks has been holding out hope to move back to Peete Street after the renovations were complete.

Venu Akkinepalli, the buildings new owner, told WCPO in an email that he hasnt decided whether to accept Section 8 vouchers after renovations are complete.

Schrider said its uncommon for property owners in the region to buy a building, renovate it and then continue to accept Section 8.

Should redevelopment benefit everyone?

With this tightening market, there are fewer and fewer landlords with decent housing that are participating in the housing choice voucher program, he said. Theres always been a problem of getting landlords to participate in the program. Its even more difficult because of the market forces that are occurring in Cincinnati.

Those market forces also are getting a boost, Schrider said, when local governments provide incentives to developers to renovate properties.

Were actually in a sense subsidizing developers to buy properties to renovate them and to convert some affordable housing into luxury housing, he said. Not that thats a bad thing. But I think we have to take a look at our policies and make sure that were incentivizing some affordable housing as well.

Eubanks said thats what he would like to see.

Courtesy of Daniel Eubanks

He overcame a serious injury and subsequent drug addiction to get his life back on track after experiencing homelessness years ago, he said.

He loved the apartment where he lived, he said, and thought he would die there. Now he just wants to get into a decent place and get the belongings he has left out of storage, he said.

As a community, we should be wanting redevelopment to benefit everybody, Schrider said. And unfortunately in some neighborhoods thats just not happening.

Lucy May writes about the people, places and issues that define our region to celebrate what makes the Tri-State great and shine a spotlight on issues we need to address. Childhood poverty is an important focus for her and for WCPO. To reach Lucy, email lucy.may@wcpo.com. Follow her on Twitter @LucyMayCincy.

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How this long-time Over-the-Rhine resident ended up homeless when his building got sold - WCPO