Ohio kinship family reunites because of affordable housing development

Denise Chattams loads her mother's scooter into her van during a trip to a doctor's appointment on Friday, April 3, 2026. Chattams and her mother live in a kinship-care friendly townhome, one of 26 built by Dayton Children’s Hospital and several partners.

Children play on a playground outside kinship-care friendly townhomes built by Dayton Children’s Hospital on Friday, April 3, 2026. The hospital is visible in the background. Dayton Children's networked with other organizations to build 26 apartments on a large lot near their facility.

Denise Chattams (left) prepares lunch for her 5-year-old nephew, Imagine, and 12-year-old niece, Ja'Niya on an April afternoon.

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The Dayton Children's Hospital on Friday, April 3, 2026.

Imagine, 5, twhips webs like Spider-man at his aunt and guardian, Denise Chattams. They live in a Dayton, Ohio, affordable housing development designed for kinship families like theirs.

Center for Community Health Executive Director Jessica Salem (left) and Dayton Children's Hospital President and Chief Executive Officer Deborah Feldman worked together to build kinship-care friendly townhomes near their hospital in Dayton.

Vermillion Place resident Ciera Davis (left) talks with Center for Community Health Executive Director Jessica Salem (center) as Dayton Children's Hospital President and Chief Executive Officer Deborah Feldman talks with one of Davis' children on Friday, April 3, 2026. Salem and Feldman worked together to build kinship-care friendly townhomes near their hospital in Dayton.