West End home once slated for affordable housing listed as Airbnb rental

Former West End Community Council member Sherri King spent Thursday evening taking family photos of low-income West End families in front of a West End row home once slated to be an affordable home.

She wanted to take the photos inside of the home, and had enlisted the help of a friend to book the building through Airbnb as a short-term rental for $252.

The reservation was abruptly canceled about 15 minutes after WCPO 9 began asking Seven Hills Neighborhood Houses questions about how one of their employees took ownership of the property and why it was being advertised for short-term-rental use.

"It's supposed to be an affordable rental unit, or a home for a West End resident," King said.

King said affordable housing and a for-profit entity shouldn't be combined.

"The term affordability can be subjective, but $252 a night is not affordable to most people I know," she said.

The row home was rehabbed by Habitat for Humanity as a contractor and then acquired by the Seven Hills Neighborhood Association in 2022.

The Port website indicates the home was developed for use as an affordable rental unit, but, instead, was sold to Seven Hills social worker Sheila Nared in May.

The Hamilton County Auditor's website indicated Nared purchased the property for $155,000.

Seven Hills Executive Director Alexis Kidd Zaffer defended the home sale when WCPO 9 reached out Thursday, saying the organization was having trouble finding a suitable renter or buyer from the general public.

Zaffer said the Seven Hills board voted to open the sale to stakeholders, like Nared, as a result.

As for the property being used as a short-term rental, Zaffer said she saw no issue as long as Nared followed the contract she signed as a condition of purchase that the home would be her primary residence for five years.

King raised doubt about that residency.

She shared screen shots from Airbnb with us showing the home was a "whole home" rental with availability through the majority of August and much of late July.

WCPO 9 was able to review the listing before it was taken down Thursday afternoon.

Nared insisted the home was her primary residence when we reached her by phone.

"I've been living there since May the 23rd," she said. "Been waiting to find my residency in the West End since forever. It was clear to me that should be my residence. My daughter done that."

Nared originally said her daughter made the listing then backtracked, and said she had no clue where it came from.

She acknowledged the original listing featured an animated version of her face and included her first name, but said she has never had a short-term rental account.

Nared said she looked forward to meeting the neighbors who were angered by the listing.

"My word to them is that I don't know where these mixed messages came from. I'm excited to be in my new home. Something that's affordable for me. Something in the area I grew up in," she said.

The Port's Vice President of Communications and Marketing Tom Milikin issued the following statement Thursday:

Seven Hills Neighborhood Houses fulfilled all contractual obligations it had with the Landbank. We learned about this rental listing today and worked with Seven Hills Neighborhood Houses to quickly resolve. At The Port, we work very hard to create and increase opportunities for homeownership to revitalize communities for equitable economic prosperity.

Habitat for Humanity, also in a statement, reaffirmed their commitment to work with Seven Hills in the future:

Habitat for Humanity of Greater Cincinnati has a long and sustained commitment to creating affordable homeownership opportunities for low to moderate-income first-time homebuyers. For the Baymiller townhomes we were able to continue that mission by creating affordable homeownership opportunities at 1803 and 1807 Baymiller. We were happy to provide construction services on behalf of Seven Hills Neighborhood Houses at 1805 Baymiller and turned the completed home back to them for their program.

As per the services contract, we have not had oversight of this property after completing our work. We don’t have any comment on the current status of that property. We continue to value seven hills and their commitment to the West End neighborhood.

Zaffer said if the property is not Nared's primary residence, Seven Hills can have it "clawed back" into the organization's ownership.

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