A 20-year battle over low-income housing in Over-the-Rhine came to a dramatic crescendo Monday, as a committee of Cincinnati City Council voted to back out of a $4 million deal to build 30 more units on Vine Street.

        After four hours of debate, the Finance Committee voted 4-3 to void a contract to provide $770,000 toward the project.

        The Race Street Tenant Organization Cooperative, or ReStoc, had been counting on the city money to leverage federal low-income housing tax credits in what would have been the largest rehabilitation project in ReStoc's history.

        The full council will make a final decision on whether to fund the ReStoc deal Wednesday, though the 4-3 vote is probably representative of the whole council. Only Councilmen Jim Tarbell and Paul Booth are not members of the committee, and their votes are split.

        Wednesday's vote could leave the future of ReStoc's involvement on Vine Street in doubt.

        “There's a light-year's change in philosophy in this vote,” said Mayor Charlie Luken, who has made Vine Street his top priority in 2002. “But there are some practical implications that trouble us all — and that is, how do we move forward in Over-the-Rhine?”

        The answer: very slowly, said ReStoc coordinator Jennifer Summers.

        “This was a step backward today,” she said. “We'll just have to do the best we can with what we have.”

        Under a November 2000 agreement, ReStoc was to sell a building at 1214 Vine St. for middle-class housing — a component that Mr. Luken and most members of City Council say is lacking in Cincinnati's poorest neighborhood.

        In return, the 26-year-old homeless-advocacy group — which had never sold any of its Over-the-Rhine holdings — would get city money to rehabilitate seven other Vine Street buildings.

        But the agreement took almost 15 months to move forward, and in the meantime a new City Council had adopted a policy that would prohibit city funding for more low-income housing in neighborhoods such as Over-the-Rhine.

        “This is all about politics. This is all about credibility. This is all about ability to perform,” said Mr. Tarbell, a longtime critic of ReStoc who says the group is trying to stockpile buildings to prevent development, not to encourage it.

        Ms. Summers defended Re- Stoc's motives.

        “Over-the-Rhine is changing, and we want it to change,” she said. “We want more police on the street, and more streetlighting. We want more development. We just want to still be here after it happens.”

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