OTRCH’s Amy Silver on the Need for Affordable Housing
It’s a gloomy day in Over-the-Rhine, but as soon as I step through the doors of the OTR Community Housing (OTRCH) office, I am greeted with nothing but warmth. With big windows, bright colors, and a smile from the folks at the front desk, I instantly feel welcome. There are people coming in and out with a kind of familiarity one might have with their favorite coffee shop. Everyone knows each other by name, and as its own namesake suggests, the only thing that comes to mind is the word “community.”
Situated across from Washington Park – a focal point of the OTR neighborhood – I met with social worker and OTR local Amy Silver at the OTRCH central office. She has been a member of their team for over a decade and has been an integral part of their services that provide people with affordable housing. We got to talk about how she fell in love with OTR, misconceptions about housing insecurity, and what OTRCH is doing to keep people in the neighborhood they call home.
Interview by Sydney Llewellyn. Photography by Chelsie Walter.
So, before we get into talking about what you do with OTR Community Housing, could you tell us a bit about yourself and how you got into this line of work?
Yes! So, I am a social worker here, and I went to school for social work. I didn't really know what that meant at the time, but I knew it would probably get me aligned with a field that would feel right, and it would get me where I wanted to go. I went to Miami University, and I graduated in 2008, but in 2007 I came down to do the urban residency program through Miami. It was run by Tom Dutton, who unfortunately passed away in 2017, but he was the reason I came down to Over-the-Rhine. The residency program really drew me in because I was a student at Miami and knew that there was more to the story of Over-the-Rhine than what was happening on the news or what I was seeing in the paper, and I wanted to see what the real story was. So that's what brought me to Over-the-Rhine. I got hooked, and I decided to stay!
When I graduated, I went to work at what was then The Drop-Inn Center for about a year, and then a full-time position became available back over here at Over-the-Rhine Community Housing. So, I hopped back across the park, and I've been here at OTRCH for about 15 years. This place has become my home. I'm not from Ohio; I'm from Connecticut, so it kind of still feels random that I'm here. But, the way that I was introduced to this neighborhood through the program that Tom Dutton built alongside community members – people like Bonnie Neumeier, Dorothy Darden, and women of the neighborhood – welcoming you in and giving you a lay of the land, you don't get that anywhere else, you know? That was really special.
That's amazing. So, now can you tell us about OTR Community Housing and the organization’s mission?
OTRCH, or Over-the-Rhine Community Housing, is an organization that's the result of a merger between two organizations. We merged in 2006. It was Restock, which was formed in 1977, and then the Over-the-Rhine Housing Network, which was formed in 1988. They were sister organizations doing like-minded work, one in the north part of the neighborhood, one in the south here in the Washington Park area. At the time, it was decided that we would be stronger together if we were doing work together. We develop and manage affordable housing. It's been historically only in Over-the-Rhine, but we're branching out to other neighborhoods now too. We have a project in Lower Price Hill, one in Northside that's going to be coming online soon, and one in the Central Business District, so we're venturing out a little bit from Over-the-Rhine, but the bulk of our housing is in OTR.
Right now, we have about 500 units of affordable housing, and we do all of the aspects of affordable housing; we develop it. We also do the day-to-day management, so we have property managers, maintenance, and social workers on staff, which is kind of strange. We do conventional housing, so that would be housing that you, or I, or anyone can just come in and apply and sign a lease, but we also have something called Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH). So, that's housing for people coming out of shelter – both single individuals and families – who qualify for this level of housing, which has a subsidy attached to it. So, it's affordable to them for as long as they live there, and then there are also support services.
Someone like myself, a social worker, who walks alongside them for as long as they're in that housing to help keep them stable, help overcome any barriers that will inevitably come up, and help them move forward with any of the goals that they have. We have a large stock of PSH that we manage, and that's what I do specifically. I work with our families in one of our programs called Carrie’s Place. I have about 20 to 25 families that I work with – moms and kids mostly – to keep them housed and everything that's connected with that. You name it, I've tried it or will consider it. Everything is connected to housing and keeping someone housed.
That's so interesting. I didn’t know that most places like this don’t typically have social workers on staff.
It's new. We call it a blended management model in housing. So, what that looks like is our resident services team, which is mostly social workers, and our property management team, being very intentional about blending what our roles are and addressing issues as they arise from that lens. If someone's struggling to pay their rent, what's the story behind that? Is there some intervention that we can do? Instead of issuing notices and asking people to leave, how can we help them be stable? Is there something going on that we can help alleviate so that they can be stably housed?
Our goal here at OTRCH is to provide stable housing, to build a stable community to support the community that's here, and to make sure there's space for people who want to live here and who have been here. We're able to give support that people need, so you don't just have to evict people when things get hard.
I'm sure with this work, there are a lot of obstacles that come up as well. How do you and OTRCH work to overcome those hurdles?
Oh, gosh, hurdles and obstacles. Yeah, so there’s, like, so many – a million. I think of them as kind of tiered, so there are hurdles for people individually, and there are enough of those, but then there are lots of systemic obstacles. Micro and macro level obstacles that we try to address here at OTRCH. I spend my day with more micro-level obstacles which are connected to systems, so you have to be able to look through both lenses. But for me, poverty is just a huge obstacle. It's certainly systemically created, but it has day-to-day impacts for people that are very real and have to be solved because if you don't have food, you have to figure that out. You might want to deconstruct why it is the way it is – and I'm glad people are doing that – but you also need to get food on the table for you and your kids. Obstacles like that – including getting resources to people who need them, ideally in a way that feels empowering and not icky, because sometimes getting needs met can feel icky in our system.
So we’re trying to do it in a way that's empowering, like, “This is your right, and we're gonna get you what you need.” Things like addiction, domestic violence, mental illness, and the lack of resources to support people are some of the day-to-day obstacles that I work with. It takes a lot of work for people to move through those challenges. I see it as my privilege to get to support people as they do that, and I really appreciate when people can be vulnerable and share what's going on with their life. That's what a lot of us as social workers expect of people, but I realize that is not an easy thing. To be like, “Let me tell you the hardest and worst thing about my life over and over and over again,” is really hard, and I value that people trust me with that information, let me see that, and let me walk with them while they try to work it out.
Everyone deserves to have housing; it is the bare minimum to be able to function and have safety, happiness, and stability.
Going back to your question about larger struggles, the fight for affordable housing is just huge. There's not enough money being allocated to building affordable housing, though the need is so great. The number of people who qualify for affordable housing versus the stock of available, affordable housing; there's a vast gap there. So, that means many thousands of people, just within Cincinnati alone, are either paying way more than they should for their housing, they don't have housing at all, or they're doubled up or under-housed – like a family living in a one bedroom. There are lots of ways that people are getting by, but it's just that; it's “getting by,” and it's not economically or socially just. The lack of affordable housing is a huge barrier and is what we work on here. But we're just one place, one neighborhood, doing one little project at a time, and putting together a project of 20 or 50 units, takes years to do. That's not going to make a dent in the need. That's a huge barrier, and of course, the lack of political will to make that happen is disheartening.
Gentrification is obviously a huge thing that we've watched happen in our neighborhood as well, and experienced alongside our residents, and just the continued lack of acknowledgment from regular, everyday folks of what has happened or what is happening. A lack of understanding of what's really going on, like, “Oh, no, it's so great down here now!” The amount of times you hear that, and you just want to be like, “Well, that's super problematic. That's really one side of a very, very large story.”
Going along with that question, it seems like a lot of the general public doesn't have a great grasp of what housing insecurity looks like all of the time. What do you wish more people understood about housing instability?
I think it would be helpful if people could slow down just enough to understand that all that's keeping someone from being comfortable are forces that are largely beyond what they have done, what they have earned, or their value as a human being. Some of us come into this world with a lot of privilege, and some of us don't, and we did nothing to deserve either situation. I know that if something were to happen in my life, like a medical crisis, or I were to lose my job, my family would be stable enough because of a legacy of privilege. They have a home that they own. They are stable, I could go live there. I wouldn't have to fear homelessness. If you come from a family that doesn't have that same level of privilege – again, nothing they did or didn't do, it's just the way we are designed as a society – then you don't have the same safety net. You don't have the same structure built around you to buffer you from the harsh realities of our world. If you have nowhere to go, you go to the shelter, or if you can't get into the shelter, you're on the street, and that's terrifying. If we could just focus on that instead of finding fault with why people are in the circumstances that they're in. And realizing that if you are housed and you have all this stability, that is a great privilege. And sure, you may work hard, and you may be a great human being, but that doesn't mean you deserve it any more than someone else. Everyone deserves to have housing; it is the bare minimum to be able to function and have safety, happiness, and stability.
It sounds like you have a lot of passion for the community you work with. As a member of the OTR neighborhood yourself, what's your favorite thing about it?
My favorite thing about this neighborhood is, hands-down, the people. No doubt about it. There's nothing like living in the city, but it is also 100% a small town, you know? There's a pace here that is very pleasant, and people acknowledge other people and look out for each other. I will say, sadly, a lot of that has been lost, pushed to the margins, or quieted because of the gentrification in our neighborhood. A lot of people that used to be here aren't here anymore. A lot of blocks that used to have people sitting out or kids riding their bikes up and down the sidewalk are different. They look different now. They have bars and tourists on them. It's really hard to walk around and see that difference, to feel that difference. Because, gosh, the strength of the people that live here is amazing, the fortitude of the women, especially the moms that have raised their kids in this neighborhood, despite all odds, and the threat of them losing their housing, because of displacement.
When I moved into the neighborhood, there was a school right there, Washington Park Elementary, and it was the highest-performing elementary school in the neighborhood. One year it had kids in it, and then it closed, and then they tore it down that same year. So, just like the problematic way that things play out in our neighborhood and how it affects real people's lives and takes a toll on our families. But people are so strong and so resilient, and it's fun to be a part of that.
So, I know you talked a little bit earlier about some of the projects that you guys have done. If you want to expand more on some of those, I'd love to hear about that, as well as any future plans for OTRCH or projects on the horizon.
So, I might be a little out of my depth because I'm not the project developer, but I love what we do, so I can talk about it. A project that is really important to who we are at OTRCH is the Jimmy Heath House. The Jimmy Heath house has been around since 2010 and is a site-based project, and it's centered around the concept of “housing first” and harm reduction. It's a philosophy, an approach to doing housing, which is grounded in the fact that we think people deserve housing first. They don't have to go through a treatment program, they don't have to prove that they've saved up this much money, and they don't have to be abstinent from substance use; they deserve housing first. And then, once they're in that housing, services will be made available to them. There will be wraparound supports, and they don't have to use them, but they'll be made available to them. It's a studied, proven way of doing housing networks. If we provide people with safe, decent, affordable housing and then provide them with services, they're much more likely to engage with them in a meaningful way, rather than if we make their housing contingent on their participation in something. I'm a believer in that philosophy; it speaks to who I am as a social worker. And I got lucky that OTRCH really believes in it and was one of the first providers of “housing first” in the city of Cincinnati.
Jimmy Heath House has been a guidepost to other providers in the community who have since rolled out “housing first” projects, and I think we've learned a lot over the years doing “housing first” and practicing harm reduction. As a social worker, it's about meeting a person where they are and giving that person the reins like, yeah, it’s their life, let's let them decide. But, let's show folks what's available, what their options are. Empowering people with information about how they might be safer in their drug use, if they're practicing sex work, or if they're in a violent relationship. It's dropping the wool from our eyes of, “Oh gosh, people just shouldn't do these bad things.” No, people are engaging in things that are potentially harmful all the time. And if we come at that from a place of non-judgment, we're going to have relationships with people, and we're going – when they're ready – to make or explore change. That's harm reduction. That's “housing first.” We practice “housing first” with our other PSH programs. I do “housing first” with families, which is even more nuanced because there are kids involved. I think it's great because it allows for trust to be built.
I have found that this work is easier, and this life is easier, if instead of standing in judgment of people, we stand in witness of people, in awe of all that they’re carrying.
As far as projects coming up, it's exciting to think about our project, The Barrister, which is in the central business district. It's going to be the first affordable housing development in the central business district in a long time. Kind of going back to what we talked about before, we need affordable housing. We need it. Everywhere. More of it. Lots of it. There's just not enough of it, so that's exciting. And what's cool about being on staff here is I'm a social worker. I don't do real estate development, but the folks in our real estate development office know the type of housing we want to create and the way we want to implement our philosophy. We might be doing different tasks, but it's all moving the ship forward in the same direction.
Aside from some things you’ve already mentioned, what is most rewarding about your work?
Lots of things. Yeah, doing this work is a privilege. It is not a small thing to trust someone with the very hardest things about yourself. I get to support people as they go through some really, really hard things. And especially when we are talking about life in poverty, life without enough resources, it stays hard for a long time, and it might not be hard for a little while, but then it will be hard again. So, just being able to do life with our residents, to witness their kids growing up, to see their successes and celebrate that, to be present for any failings, and just make space for that is a really powerful thing. It's cool to get to see change. Getting to see people remembering their value and their worth. To remind people, “You're great!” and, “You can do this; you can totally do this. We'll do it together. It's gonna be scary. We're gonna do it. We're gonna figure it out.” We try to validate when things are really hard, especially when people encounter systems that are really horrible for poor people.
Whether it be benefit systems for jobs and family services, which should be a source of support but can be dehumanizing. The court systems, educational systems, mental health systems – those can be really challenging. To be a buffer between a person and that system is really important, and to validate if something feels bad, like, “Yeah, that was bad. That was not cool. You should not have been treated that way,” that feels good. While trying to dismantle some of that brokenness, being able to do the micro work, that's really good stuff. But also, this is just a great organization. I trust everyone I work with. I have the best boss in the whole world. Everyone who has Andy Hutzel as a boss will say the same thing. I have a lot of freedom here. I get to do what I need to do. There's a lot of trust in both directions when working here, which is really empowering.
So, how can people do their part to help with housing insecurity on a political and economic level?
So many things! No matter where anyone lives, this is a relevant issue. In any neighborhood in Cincinnati, in any state in the country, this is important. There is someone near you who's working on it. So, figure out who that is, and pay attention to what they're doing. Trust them because they know what they're talking about, and be willing to be uncomfortable. Because you do have to confront the role you play in the inequities of housing, and you have to think about what you're going to do about that. That can be uncomfortable. So I think, you know, if it feels a little weird, you're going in the right direction. It should feel a little icky. It should feel a little hard, but that means you're doing it. There are a lot of groups here doing the work that needs to be done, and I wish that people – especially newcomers – would be more comfortable learning and deferring before espousing that they know what's going on or that they know the whole story.
This is a super complicated issue, especially when we talk about Over-the-Rhine and gentrification. If you support businesses that are in a structure that people once lived in, that's complicated, and that's participating in it, in my opinion. Being mindful of businesses that you support and places you go, knowing that there's a whole story there. I'm of the mindset that once you know that story, you can't not know it anymore, and you have the responsibility to do something about that. That's the way I live. It's not always fun or easy, but it is an “awake” kind of way to live. It's like, “Okay, yes, I'm going to be accountable for what I know.” Voting is also important. Obviously, people need to vote! But also, politicians say a lot of things. So pay attention to the groups that are pushing our elected leaders to be better, who are pushing for more accountability with election promises. It's kind of boring, slow work, but if people want to care about it, they gotta go to their local community council. They have to sit in neighborhood meetings. They have to do that stuff. And the more of us that do it, that's how we make change.
And then, how can people support OTR Community Housing specifically?
We welcome support! We love having new friends, especially new donors. Our executive director Mary Burke Rivers is well known and respected for every good reason, and a lot of us, including Mary, love to tell our story. People can find ways to interface with our story in lots of ways. Pay attention to what we’re doing because we know what we’re doing! We’ve kind of figured it out, and I think we’re pretty good at it! So, throw support behind us whenever you have an opportunity. As good as it looks on the outside sometimes, when people are talking about OTRCH – it's all real. It’s a great place to be
That’s great information. Finally, who is an influential woman in your life?
Oh gosh, do I have to pick one? I mean, when I think about my life here, Bonnie Neumeier is not only a matriarch in our community but a matriarch in my life. She was one of the first people I met when I came to this neighborhood. She’s been a big part of my life all the way through it. She’s part of all my big memories here, a lot of my little memories too! I admire her tenacity so much. I sit in meetings with her on a regular basis, and I learn from her all the time. She takes meticulous notes and is diligent, and thorough, and reliable 100% of the time. She could tell you who was in a meeting in 1983; she could find the paper. She could tell you who was there. But then she’s also warm and makes space for people. One of her traits that I admire so much is that she tells stories, and she writes them down, and she listens to other people’s stories, and values them. Whenever someone passes away, she always has a beautifully written memorial or obituary to share. The amount of times that she’s done that for people is just staggering. Not only has she felt all that loss, but she holds all those stories, and she shares those stories. That’s a gift. I am so lucky that I get to be close to her, learn from her, and share fun times, angry times, silly times, and eat meals together. Yeah, Bonnie Neumeier is one of a kind.
Is there anything else you’d like to add before we wrap it up?
Well, what’s important to me is mainly just people and how hard they work. How hard life is! I have found that this work is easier, and this life is easier, if instead of standing in judgment of people, we stand in witness of people, in awe of all that they’re carrying. That's how I try to work, how I try to live. It’s what has allowed me to do this work for 15 years and still be excited about it, curious about it, and happy to be here.
Women of Cincy is a certified 501(c)3. This belongs to you. Consider supporting future stories with a donation. Do you know an awesome Cincinnatian? Nominate them here! New features launch on Mondays.