📝 Belated review of the Ohio Senate housing report

Plus upcoming events + your trusty links 🔗

Report demonstrates bi-partisan appeal of some pressing housing issues

The crisis of housing is widely acknowledged by multiple levels of government. In April, the Select Committee on Housing of the Ohio Senate released a report with views of its 12 members and 23 recommendations on how to address housing across the state. Chaired by State Senator Michelle Reynolds (R-Canal Winchester), the committee held 12 live-streamed meetings throughout Ohio and heard from more than 200 witnesses. The final report of the committee shares findings, opinions, and recommendations to address the persistent issue of housing.

A thorough assessment comes from State Senator Louis Blessing, a professional engineer from suburban Cincinnati.

Despite being a Republican, State Senator Louis Blessing (R-Colerain Township) opposes the growing investor ownership of housing. The politics of housing are increasingly crossing partisan boundaries, blurring traditional platforms as the crisis grows. In his four-page letter, he offers a bevy of recommendations that both affirm pro-business perspectives and offer strong critique of the housing industry. For one, he writes that policies will need to “increase supply while tamping down on investor demand.” One way to increase supply is through upzoning (e.g. zoning reform, eliminating single-family zoning). Blessing writes:

…though I'm a fan of increased density given the savings it could provide, I'm also a fan of ownership, and zoning reform, if it is to occur, must have some significant guardrails to ensure that ownership opportunities are a significant—majority—portion of new construction. Given all of the state and federal incentives for renting, zoning reform absent guardrails would mean the majority of units built would be rental as they're the most lucrative for developers.

Here, Blessing argues that tax benefits are “skewed towards owning rentals,” and claims that the results of this are:

• REITs buying up entire neighborhoods

• Incessant calls from people wanting to buy homes for cash sight unseen

• Rise in short-term rentals

Blessing also advocates for “pass-through entity (PTE) transparency” to eliminate the unknown shell companies that may facilitate speculation and substandard properties. He writes that “county auditors, city officials, and others have no idea who owns certain property because navigating the labyrinth of multiple layers of PTEs.” The lack of transparency, according to Blessing, allows owners to evade code enforcement and fines. He even slips in the phrase “political economy,” a term not often heard in the state legislature. Overall, Blessing’s letter demonstrates the bi-partisan appeal of several points of housing reform. This is a decent sign for the prospect of reform, especially in a Republican-run state like Ohio.

Report Highlights 👍

• Bi-partisan recognition that institutional investor purchases of housing stock are a negative force.

• State Senator Vernon Sykes (D-Akron) reminding us that “Ohioans need to work 60 hours per week to afford a one-bedroom apartment at market rates.” When people say the market is the solution to housing, they rarely acknowledge the labor market is a major problem.

Report Lowlights 👎

• State Senator Terry Johnson (R-McDermott Township, population 308) blaming “unfettered government spending” and the “forced national move towards taxpayer-funded ‘green energy’ [in quotation marks]” for inflation.

• State Senator Andrew Brenner (R-Delaware) using his page space to attack public schools as monopolies that “do not need to innovate or improve from the status quo.”

Our Favorite Recommendations 👏

• Reform zoning — #3: “Consider providing technical assistance to help local governments address their zoning codes to modernize opportunities for housing.”

• Encourage homeownership — #5: “Review Ohio's existing down payment assistance programs and housing tax incentives … Continue to study the widespread impacts of institutional home purchasing.”

• Increase transparency — #9: Create “Transaction Transparency” for housing owned by out-of-state LLCs.

• Incentivize density — #18: Create a grant fund that would “provide an incentive to political subdivisions to build responsible density and act as a resource to assist local communities with housing challenges.”

Related legislation

• S. C. R. No. 12: Urge Attorney General to file a lawsuit against RealPage, Inc.

• Senate Bill 36: Grant tenants, certain bidders rights for foreclosure sale

• Senate Bill 76: Levy a tax on certain high-volume landlords

---

Take a moment to share your experience with housing in Central Ohio ✅

Do you want to have a voice in how Central Ohio responds to its growing housing needs? Here’s your chance! This survey from the Affordable Housing Alliance of Central Ohio will help policymakers, community leaders, and housing advocates like us rise to the challenge ahead.

---

Building Inclusive Communities 🗣️

Join Families Flourish and Hanif Abdurraqib for a panel discussion on the critical role housing plays in shaping opportunity, health, and prosperity in Central Ohio. Additional panelists include Ukeme Awakessien Jeter (Mayor of Upper Arlington), Dr. Craig Evan Pollack (Johns Hopkins), Steve Stivers (Ohio Chamber of Commerce), Brandy Rosel (Families Flourish participant).

When: Wednesday, Sept. 25 at 7pm (doors at 6:40)
Where: Lincoln Theater, 769 East Long Street, Columbus
What: Panel discussion on “Home Matters: Opportunity, Neighborhood and Belonging”
Who: Featuring Columbus' own award-winning writer Hanif Abdurraqib

Tickets are free, but you must register to attend.

CURA Speaker Series: Housing! 🏘️

This season of events at the Center for Urban and Regional Analysis (CURA) at The Ohio State University is all about housing. From public health to civil engineering, speakers represent a range of disciplines that interface with today’s most pressing questions of housing affordability, access, and stability.

When: Sept. 26, Oct. 18, Nov. 15, and Dec. 6
Where: In-person and online
What: Housing and health, evictions, and the housing crisis

With a mix of in-person and online events, attendance is free but registration is required.

---

🗞️ Housing Happenings 🏘

Local + Regional 🌳

• Columbus approves sweeping zoning changes, increasing height limits in parts of city
  29 July 2024, The Columbus Dispatch

• 3D-printed homes set to come to Cleveland as affordable housing option
  31 July 2024, WKYC Cleveland

• Opinion: A plan similar to Columbus' Zone in worked in Minneapolis
  3 August 2024, The Columbus Dispatch

• New $70 million affordable housing project bringing 234 units to Franklinton
  7 August 2024, The Columbus Dispatch

• Columbus named United States' most popular housing market

  7 August 2024, The Columbus Dispatch

• Columbus "heat islands" are making it feel hotter
  7 August 2024, Axios Columbus

• How much do full-time workers have to make hourly to afford a two bedroom apartment?
  12 August 2024, The Columbus Dispatch

• $300 million Whittier Peninsula project lands state grant for brownfield cleanup
  16 August 2024, The Columbus Dispatch

• Planned 550-acre development would be 'game changer' for Plain City
  18 August 2024, The Columbus Dispatch

• A look at how federal plans could make the costs of housing more affordable
  21 August 2024, Ohio Capital Journal

• Is 3D-printing of homes an affordable housing solution? Columbus' first being built now
  4 September 2024, The Columbus Dispatch

National 🇺🇸

• The American Elevator Explains Why Housing Costs Have Skyrocketed
  8 July 2024, The New York Times

• Opinion: California’s Homelessness Is a Failure of Will
  31 July 2024, The New York Times

  • “A progressivism that affirms the abstract right to housing but violently resists the brick-and-mortar reality of that commitment? That is a progressivism unworthy of the name.”

• U.S. Accuses Software Maker RealPage of Enabling Collusion on Rent
  23 August 2024, The New York Times