Kevin Nowak, President and CEO, CHN Housing Partners
In July 2023, the state of Ohio passed a state Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC), a measure aimed at filling financing gaps to increase project development for affordable rental housing by complementing the federal LIHTC. For years, the Ohio Housing Council (OHC), the state industry group for the affordable housing development industry, had been working to get it off the ground, but couldn’t gain traction with the state legislature until the FY2024-2025 state budget. When the state LIHTC finally passed, it was due in large part to effective messaging tactics, the support of key voices, and blocking and tackling work at the state level. This brief shares a conversation with CHN Housing Partners President / CEO and Ohio Housing Council Chair, Kevin Nowak, on why engaging and building relationships at the state and local levels is imperative to the work of organizations across the affordable housing and community development sector.
Among affordable housing organizations, we often talk about how important the right messaging is in building bipartisan support for legislation. What messaging strategies worked well to gain support with state leaders?
Kevin Nowak (KN): As we worked through how to best sell the tax credit, we considered various options. Housing is a bipartisan issue – we know this. We wanted our message to be a commonsense message that appealed to all legislators. We focused on the importance of stable, affordable housing to support a strong workforce, create communities for families to thrive and for seniors to have a good quality of life. This message was successful. It appealed across both sides of the aisle and drew key allies from the business community.
To gain strong support among the state legislature and ultimately pass the state LIHTC, you all had to broaden your reach and base. How did you go about engaging significant players in the Ohio state policy landscape?
KN: Something you will always hear me talk about is getting beyond the housing space. As developers in this space, we’re used to being in our own bubble, leading with our own stories and engaging with the same voices. We (OHC) wanted to expand our impact – to do that, we had to expand our voice. We began reaching out to important players outside of housing to create a broad coalition with the goal of bringing the voices of business leaders into the work. Groups including the Ohio Realtors, Chamber of Commerce, Bankers League, and the Land Bank Association all signed onto the coalition along with OHC and were part of the coalition that came together to push for an Ohio state LIHTC.
"We had to expand our impact — and to do that, we had to expand our voice."
Tale of Two Cities: The House vs. Senate
The Home Matters to Ohio Coalition is a group of affordable housing advocates, business and industry leaders in Ohio committed to advancing positive housing policy for the development and preservation of a wide range of housing options. OHC is a member of the coalition. Although the state industry group is responsible for conceptualizing and driving the initial effort behind the state LIHTC, the Home Matters to Ohio Coalition helped get it over the finish line. The coalition’s strategy is centered around both homeownership / owner-occupied housing and rental properties. Their work focuses on 11 housing policy proposals along 4 policy goals that incentivize an increased supply of affordable housing.
How was the coalition eventually able to pass the state LIHTC?
KN: The coalition started digging in at the state level with legislators and key stakeholders. We had good reception in the governor’s office, but they couldn’t drive the agenda. We had to go to the legislature.
In the state legislature, there were really two different sides. In the House, the Speaker and Finance Committee Chair wanted to go big with LIHTC – the House proposed $500 million in LIHTC per year for 4 years. The Senate on the other hand, didn’t want a state LIHTC in the budget at all. “Sh** housing,” is what one senator called it. They removed LIHTC from the proposed budget and added in a provision that would have taxed affordable housing at the same rate as market rate properties. They even proposed the elimination of the Ohio Housing Finance Agency (OHFA).
We were intentional and consistent in our engagement though, particularly with stakeholders we knew would be at the conference committee. In the final budget, we ended up with $100 million per year for 4 years of state LIHTC, had the Senate’s tax policy removed and saved OHFA.
This success was only possible because we’d engaged with the legislature so much – inviting them to events, ribbon cuttings, ground breakings.
Can you talk more about your advocacy strategy? How have you been able to be so active with your state legislature?
KN: We’ve taken an offensive approach to our advocacy work. The year after we achieved the state LIHTC, 2024, I became the chair of the Ohio Housing Council. At the same time, we hired an Executive Director – this person’s work is fully focused around OHC which frees up a lot of bandwidth. It’s allowed us to supercharge our blocking and tackling work with the state legislature.
We also re-activated our PAC. PAC members are those who have key legislators within their districts. The PAC ensures that members are going to an elected official’s events. The ultimate goal of everything we do is to get in front of electeds– to make sure they understand who we are, what we do and our policy agenda.
Although we didn’t move the needle on any additional resources in the current budget round, FY2025-2026, the pedestrian politics we’ve prioritized over the last 4 years – sitting down with an elected official and building a relationship with their staff, supporting their causes, building trust – prevented harmful measures from being enacted. Sometimes, says Nowak, “the status quo is the best place you can be.”
"The status quo is the best place you can be."
What’s next for the coalition?
KN: We are currently contemplating our next steps for extending and expanding the state LIHTC. More breathing room is what we’re seeking. We are doing the groundwork with potential sponsors who have broad appeal in both the House and Senate.
As an organization in this sector, deep engagement at the state and local level “has to be part of your job,” says Nowak. In today’s policy landscape, a lack of capacity is no excuse. Nowak urges organization/business leaders to become familiar with their city council and state legislators, to spend time with them by inviting them to events, and to allow them to see and understand the work you do.
Where federal-level advocacy can often be more difficult to see results, it's the consumer, small people or pedestrian politics you can do at the state and local levels to really show the value of what you’re doing. That was the focus of the coalition’s work which ultimately led to their success and what they are banking on to ensure future wins.
Contributors
This piece was made possible with support and contributions from:
Kevin Nowak, President and CEO, CHN
Tolu Akintoba, Policy Development Associate, Housing Partnership Network