Strengthening Neighborhoods from Within:

HomeBase Cincinnati Kicks Off CDC Real Estate Development Fundamentals Training

HomeBase Cincinnati Mission Focus: Capacity Building: Training & Technical Assistance

Community Development Corporations (CDCs) are the bedrock of neighborhood growth, driving homeownership, commercial corridor vitality, and affordable housing. However, navigating the modern real estate ecosystem requires technical expertise, financial acumen, and strategic capacity.

To equip local leaders with these essential skills, HomeBase Cincinnati recently launched an intensive CDC Real Estate Fundamentals Training series in partnership with the City of Cincinnati and the Greater Cincinnati Foundation (GCF).

Hosting 22 practitioners across 16 local organizations, including HomeBase Cincinnati staff, this two-day workshop marked the beginning of a long-term investment in neighborhood-level real estate capacity across Cincinnati.

A Strategic Public-Philanthropic Alignment

This initiative reflects a powerful alignment between public sector investment and philanthropic leadership. The training was made possible through co-investment from the City of Cincinnati’s Operating Support Grant (OSG) program—a municipal capacity-building initiative powered by federal U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) dollars—alongside generous funding and venue hosting from the Greater Cincinnati Foundation.

By blending federal entitlement dollars with philanthropic resources, the program demonstrates how strategic public-private collaboration directly strengthens the operational readiness and real estate execution capabilities of Cincinnati’s local CDCs.

Expert-Led Capacity Building

The two-day intensive was co-led by national subject matter experts with decades of hands-on experience in urban policy and community real estate:

  • Peter Chapman (Urban Policy Innovations): An executive leader in community development and real estate finance (with graduate training from MIT). Chapman brings extensive experience advising CDCs, public housing authorities, and municipalities on complex development projects.

  • Glenn Hudson (Hudson Real Estate Advisory Group): A seasoned real estate consultant specializing in advisory services, developer technical assistance, and capacity building for community-based developers.

The sessions balanced technical rigor with interactive learning—including a crowdsourced game of "Multifamily Feud" to test financial modeling concepts in a collaborative environment.

August & September’s Core Focus Areas: From Financial Pro-Forma to Federal Tools

The training provided a deep dive into the practical mechanics required to take a community project from concept to ribbon-cutting. Core topics led by Chapman and Hudson included:

1. Mastering the Real Estate Pro Forma

At the heart of any successful real estate project is a solid financial pro forma. Practitioners learned how to model development budgets, project operating income and expenses, calculate debt coverage ratios (DSCR), and evaluate returns to ensure long-term solvency for community assets.

2. Navigating the Capital Stack & Federal Financing

To fill financing gaps in community development, practitioners explored complex capital stacks, including key federal tools:

  • HUD Section 108 Loan Guarantee Program: Utilizing flexible borrowing guaranteed by HUD to finance large-scale economic development, housing rehabilitation, and public infrastructure.

  • HUD 221(d)(4) Financing: Leveraging non-recourse, fixed-rate, long-term construction and permanent financing for multi-family rental housing.

  • Opportunity Zones & Tax Incentives: Structuring equity investments to leverage tax-advantaged capital in low-income census tracts.

3. Site Feasibility & JV’s / Public-Private Partnerships

Practitioners gained frameworks for assessing site control, conducting environmental and zoning due diligence, and structuring joint ventures between nonprofit CDCs, private developers, and municipal agencies.

Looking Ahead: A Sustained Effort for Cincinnati’s Community Development Ecosystem

August’s two-day workshop was not a one-time event- we are setting the foundation of a broader strategy by HomeBase Cincinnati and partners to build sustainable real estate development capacity across the City's CDC-led, neighborhood development ecosystem.

By equipping CDC leaders with practical financial tools, technical confidence, and a strong peer-support network, Cincinnati’s community developers are better prepared to move transformative real estate projects forward in their neighborhoods

"Thank you to Peter and Glenn for sharing your expertise, to the City of Cincinnati and Greater Cincinnati Foundation for investing in this work, and especially to the 22 practitioners who showed up ready to learn, ask hard questions, share experiences, and build together."— HomeBase Cincinnati

What’s Next?

Since the two-day real estate fundamentals training in August, HomeBase Cincinnati continues to host Peter Chapman and this cohort of CDC practitioners for twice-monthly deep dive and trainings into various real estate financial tools. These deep dives are building up to an in-person, week long training in January 2027- HomeBase is bringing Grow America’s ED 101 certificate course to the region for our CDC practitioners, and we will open any remaining seats to the public.

#CommunityDevelopmentStartsHere!