CINCINNATI — Whenever Bridgette Burbanks walks her first apartment, she feels a flood of emotion — excitement, nostalgia, pain, and relief. Burbanks believes the fourth floor efficiency off of Vine Street is hard to separate from who she is and how she became that person.

"I wish I still had my key," she said, looking up at the building. "Sometimes, I just walk past and just remember when I got — when I first moved in here.”

It was right after Burbanks started her first job. She was delivering pizzas for Venice on Vine, while working to stay sober. At that point, she didn't have a place to spend the night. Her boss introduced her to Over the Rhine Community Housing.

Burbanks said they took her on a tour of what would become her room at Buddy's Place, but she knew before she even stepped foot in the building that she wanted it.

"I never had my own apartment before," she said.

The location couldn't be better, either. She was right across the street from Venice on Vine. Close enough to encourage accountability but otherwise a giant leap for Burbanks as she learned to live independently.

“I had one window," she said. "No, I had two windows! I had the fire escape because I used to feed the birds. They would get mad at me.”

The building not only offered rent she could afford, but support to help her tackle her addiction. She lived there for eight years.

As Burbanks moved forward in her recovery, she began looking for ways to help others either find a job or find a room.

“When I was here, I kind of brought more people that was in recovery," she said. "Opened up the door for more people in recovery to give them a chance let them know that even if you got a felony on drugs or alcohol you still have an opportunity to start your life over.”

With her Venice on Vine salary, Burbanks was able to pay rent for the first time. She would walk to the OTR Community housing offices once a month cutting through Washington Park.

Before Burbanks had a place to live, she would spend her nights in that same park, usually drinking. Now, she said the park reminds her of how far she's come.

"It feels good to pay my rent," Burbanks said.

That good feeling got even better when Burbanks got onto the OTR Community Housing Board of Directors.

"They nominated my name, and then they asked me would I like to be on it. At first, I was kind of scared, but they made me feel welcome," she said. "It's like, woah. They value my opinion."

As a resident board member, Burbanks helps ensure OTR Community Housing keeps fighting for people like her.

Since Burbanks moved into Buddy's Place, Over-the-Rhine has changed dramatically. Once one of the most dangerous cities in the country, it's now one of the most economically vibrant places in Ohio.

With all that development though, came higher rent, pricing many people, businesses and organizations out of the neighborhood. Now Hamilton County faces an affordable housing crisis and OTR is the epicenter.

LISC reports one-in-three households in the county are cost burdened, meaning their housing is more than 30% of their monthly income. Meanwhile, the number of households in poverty is growing.

These trends are only increasing as the pandemic continues to take an economic toll on the state. OTR Community Housing Executive Director Mary Burke fears that could speed up the gentrification process in OTH.

Burke said her organization is trying to buck that trend, starting with holding onto their own real estate.

“It’s so important to me, to our staff, to our board, that we deepen our roots," she said. "That we all know that we’re here now, and we’ve been here, and we’re going to be here in the long term.”

OTR Community Housing manages 725 affordable units in Over-the-Rhine and in November, the organization debuted their new offices at Washington Park. From there, they'll ramp up their case management and conduct interviews for future clients.

The organization hopes those efforts will secure their future in the neighborhood as they work to keep long-term locals in homes they can afford as well.

“They're trying to keep it in the community like Over-the-Rhine,” Burbanks said.

As for her future, Burbanks, continues to live in OTR, now in another OTR Community Housing property off of East Clifton. She said she can't imagine living anywhere else.