As the city of Cincinnati grapples with a housing shortage, planning officials are advancing a program that will produce freely available pre-approved plans for two-, three-, and four-family residential buildings. The project dubbed BuildReady is hosted by the City Manager’s Office, Department of City Planning and Engagement, Department of Community and Economic Development, Department of Buildings and Inspections, and the Innovation Team. It is being financed by a $2 million PRO Housing grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
There are three parameters designs should adhere to, the city said. The city is seeking designs that are “contextual,” meaning that they respect the context of Cincinnati’s neighborhoods; “attainable,” as in practical and economical; and “scalable,” as in possible for developers of all sizes to build the homes efficiently.
This week the city of Cincinnati opened a Request for Information (RFI) to start off the program. Architects, developers, contractors, and engineers are invited to respond to the RFI with:
- Information related to experience and potential options regarding development of a design competition for middle housing (2-,3-, and 4-family buildings)
- Information regarding pre-approved plans for middle housing
- Information related to barriers to constructing middle housing in the private housing market
This summer the city plans to launch the Open Call Design Competition. Submissions will be encouraged to include conceptual plans, renderings, and narratives. Then, starting in fall 2026 and through winter 2027, the city will solicit a qualified team or firm of professionals through an RFP to develop actual construction documents based on the plans. The construction documents need to be complete, except for specific site conditions like a foundation, the city noted.
Later in 2027, the city will award land and funds to qualified entities and physically construct two demonstration projects based on the pre-approved plans.
A recent exhibition on view in Cincinnati, Block by Block: Decoding New American Dreams of Housing, centered recent changes to building codes that stand to transform existing single-family zoned blocks, addressing the need for housing. The exhibition was organized by De Peter Yi, founder of Rebuild Collective; it featured models, drawings, and informational text and jumpstarted the BuildReady initiative.
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