Dayton's oldest public housing site is getting its first new homes in generations.
Greater Dayton Premier Management and its partners held an open house Friday, Oct. 2, to show off phase one of the $15.3 million Renew Miami Chapel housing project at DeSoto Bass Courts in West Dayton, WYSO reported. The finished phase includes 44 units in nine buildings, replacing apartments built in the 1940s.
All of the new homes are affordable, with 20-year project-based rental assistance, so residents pay rent based on their income.
Building without pushing people out
Jennifer Heapy, CEO of Greater Dayton Premier Management, told WYSO the agency worked hard not to displace the people already living at DeSoto Bass.
"We spent a lot of time working out a plan where as we demolished units, so that we could build this new affordable housing, the residents in the buildings that were demolished were relocated throughout DeSoto Bass," Heapy said. "And then what came with that was a promise that they will have the first right of refusal" to move either to Germantown Crossing, a new development nearby, or into the new units on the DeSoto Bass property.
The 2026 Renew Miami Chapel plan update, published by the housing agency and its partners, describes phase one as a mix of townhouses and apartments, with laundry hookups in every unit, porches on many of them and shared outdoor space between the buildings. It puts the cost at about $16 million, a little higher than the $15.3 million figure WYSO reported.
According to the update, phase one and Germantown Crossing were both built in partnership with Model Group, and both won competitive 9% Low-Income Housing Tax Credit awards from the Ohio Housing Finance Agency. Germantown Crossing opened in September 2025 with 50 affordable units. The update says about 75% of its residents previously lived at DeSoto Bass. That $18 million building meets LEED Silver standards.
The housing agency will own, manage and provide services at the new properties, the update says.
What comes next
WYSO reported that the agency is working with HUD on the next phases, and that financing and the final unit count are still being determined.
The plan behind all of this goes back nearly a decade. In 2016, Greater Dayton Premier Management and the City of Dayton received a HUD Choice Neighborhoods planning grant focused on DeSoto Bass and the surrounding neighborhoods. The resulting Renew Miami Chapel plan was adopted in 2018. One goal is to reduce the concentration of subsidized housing in the area. A market study found that more than half of Dayton's 6,280 affordable rental units were in the greater Miami Chapel area. So the plan calls for fewer subsidized units at DeSoto Bass as new homes go up, along with a wider mix of housing.
The site carries a lot of history. DeSoto Bass Courts was Dayton's first public housing, opening in February 1940 with 200 families. For years it was the only public housing in Dayton that accepted Black tenants. It grew to more than 1,000 units during World War II to serve Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, and 510 apartments remained after the emergency wartime units were taken down. The agency says it's pursuing an Ohio Historical Marker for the site.
The update also points to other building in the area, including new starter homes in Madden Hills and Edgemont, Habitat for Humanity homes on Maitland Avenue and an $18 million rebuild of the Boys & Girls Club campus.
Why it matters for Contractors
Renew Miami Chapel has kept West Dayton crews busy for several years, and it isn't finished. Two tax credit housing projects have gone up in a row, with demolition, site work and new townhouse and apartment construction. Later phases at DeSoto Bass will mean more of the same: abatement and demolition of old buildings, utility and site crews, then framing, roofing, siding, plumbing, electrical, HVAC and finish trades. Financing and unit counts for the next phases aren't set yet, so the timing is uncertain. But with HUD involved and the agency committed to replacing the old courts, contractors in the Dayton area should keep an eye out for the next round of bids.