For Many Who Want to Own a Home, It’s Tough—Even in Affordable Places Like Ohio

Corinne Bozin-Grizzell arrives with a thick pile of research, and she’s flipping through the pages. “This is an interesting view on how things have changed,” the real estate agent promises.

In 2016, she sold a house on West 65th Street in Cleveland for $60,000, she says. That same 1,200-square-foot home sold again in 2023 with what she deems “minimal improvements,” based on pictures online. “It sold for—want to take a guess?”

The photographer on assignment guesses the price more than doubled to $135,000. She’s low, really low.

And so begins our latest storytelling, which explores the state of affordable homeownership through video, photography, and stories from a real estate agent, two recent homebuyers, the leaders of housing-related nonprofits, and Cleveland Fed researchers.

Housing experts and researchers answer:

• Why does affordable homeownership matter?
• How has the affordable homeownership market changed in recent years, and why?
• What is being done locally to help increase access to affordable housing?  
• Where do we go from here?

And don’t miss the list of resources we’ve pulled together for buyers now on the hunt.