OHFA Annual Plan - Ohio Housing Finance Agency

• OHFA will continue to maintain a list of agencies/organizations that provide servicesto those in need of accessible housing. Applicants for OHFA funding must notifythe appropriate agency at the time of application that accessible housing is beingproposed, agree to accept referrals for potential residents, and agree to receive designsuggestions for the property.Increase the number of affordable, accessible, adaptable and visitable units inOhio.• OHFA will continue to require that all new construction funded by the agency will bevisitable.• OHFA will continue to require universal design features in all OHFA fundeddevelopments.• Recommend that a group comprised of representatives from the building industry,state agencies for whom affordable housing is part of their mission and disabilityadvocacy groups explore incentives to builders and developers that will encourage thedevelopment of units with accessibility features over and above those required by law.• OHFA will support a consistent definition of visitability in order to simplify the processfor those who build affordable housing in various localities across the state. Thisuniformity and direction will encourage builders to incorporate those elements into theirprojects that they choose to make visitable.• OHFA shall audit their internal processes to insure proper tracking of developercompliance with agreed upon accessibility features. This includes review ofdocumentation before construction as well as post construction reviews.Create dedicated funding streams to promote home modification programs thatallow people who develop disabilities to remain in their homes.Supply policy makers with data that compares the costs of building accessiblefeatures into affordable housing units at construction with the costs associatedwith retrofitting the units.• Recommend that a group comprised of representatives from the building industry, stateagencies for whom affordable housing is part of their mission and disability advocacygroups who administer home modification projects be established to determine thosecosts.• Collect and compile data on the costs of adding in accessibility features afterconstruction.Develop educational and promotional initiatives about accessible housing tostimulate demand for features which will translate into more units built.• By virtue of OHFA’s leadership in championing visitabilty in its program, and in orderto better educate OHFA’s stakeholders, OHFA, in conjunction with other agencies, shallpromote educational initiatives to familiarize building professionals to the concepts ofvisitability and universal design (training events, conferences) This recommendation isspecifically targeted to building professionals such as architects, builders, appraisers,building officials, planners, etc.• Recommend that in conjunction with other agencies, OHFA create a PR campaigndirected to consumers and real estate agents to highlight the benefits of accessiblehousing and to create the situation where consumers ask for houses that haveaccessible features.77