The city manager committed in 2024 to address the city’s housing shortage at all price points. In March, the city announced its Build Back the Block program, and in September broke ground on the first two of what will be a dozen new affordable homes to be built in the Jefferson neighborhood.
Bucheit announced on Wednesday a new commitment to address the “critical” need of more affordable housing. By the end of 2030, through the Build Back the Block program, the city will see 100 new homes constructed.
“It’s exciting and ambitious, until you do the math,” he said. “When you do the math, you realize how audacious it really is. It means we plan to average adding one new home every three weeks for the next five years.”
This program is to address the gap in affordable housing, and the Build Back the Block program will be funded, eventually through home sales, but initial funds will be provided through federal block grants, donations from the Hamilton Community Foundation and contributions from community partners. Hamilton will provide funds, if it is needed.
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
“I have no doubt we’re going to succeed,” Bucheit said of home-building program, “but like I said, our success comes down to having a great plan, an incredible team and amazing collaboration.”
Most of the first 12 homes will be set aside for prospective homebuyers who earn 80% or less of the area’s median income, and seven of those homes will be built by Habitat for Humanity which offers 0% interest on 30-year mortgages.
“Hamilton’s at its best when every one of our neighborhoods is contributing to Hamilton’s overall success,” said Bucheit.
That can also be said about an educational partnership that Sprankles said will put Hamilton “on the map in a way we haven’t been on the map ever before.”
Contributing to the educational success in Hamilton is what Sprankles said is an unlikely partnership between Miami University and Butler Tech. A two-year and four-year college and a career tech school. While they have similar objectives in education, nearly a generation ago, they just didn’t commingle.
This partnership is the basis of the Advanced Manufacturing and Workforce Hub (AM Hub), which is expected to open in early 2026 at the former Vora Tech building on Knightsbridge.
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
The AM Hub has many partners beyond Butler Tech and Miami. Hamilton City Schools, the city of Hamilton, OhioMeansJobs and some 30 businesses are also involved, and it’s this multi-faceted partnership will “transform this region.”
“When communities have a responsibility to forge partnerships to transform communities, it’s not about competing,” he said. “It’s everybody in the room can win today. Everybody in the community can win when it’s done right.”
Sprankles called the AM Hub one of the most advanced in the country and because of the unique partnership “is going to defy odds of what’s possible in public education” and “change the narrative of what’s possible.”
When the AM Hub opens in early 2026, it will occupy just 70,000 of the 300,000 square feet of the building.
“Butler Tech is one of the premier career tech organizations in the country. We know that. Miami is one of the most premier two-year and four-year institutions in this country, and it’s right here in Hamilton. And with the endorsement of 30 companies and the (Greater Hamilton) Chamber (of Commerce), and the endorsement of OhioMeansJobs, what this building is going to do, I promise you, it’s going to put this city on the map in a way we haven’t been on the map ever before.”
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