COLUMBUS, Ohio — A new statewide report released by the Ohio Senate shows the state's housing crisis is continuing to get worse, so lawmakers are proposing nearly two dozen recommendations on how to alleviate stress and combat the shortage of affordable units.
The stress is something Clevelander Alex Irizarry knows well.
"As soon as you try to find something that you like or that you enjoy, it immediately gets taken off the market or you get outbid right away," Irizarry told us in a previous interview.
But a bipartisan group of state senators Wednesday announced the results of the Senate Select Committee on Housing, a nearly year-long hearing process in different regions across Ohio to learn about problems communities are dealing with.
"We can no longer be casual about this issue," said chairwoman of the committee and state Sen. Michele Reynolds (R-Canal Winchester). "It is a priority and we need to make it a priority because we're facing challenges that are increasingly getting worse."
Based on their findings in the nearly 100-page document, they realized there is no single solution to tackle the state's crisis. Instead, they proposed 23 recommendations plus introduced numerous bills to fight the growing challenges.
It includes ideas on increasing opportunities for homeownership, consumer protection for renters and homebuyers, alternative forms of housing, tax policy, increasing density, capacity-building grants for local governments, zoning technical assistance, third-party review of services and modifications to the Ohio Housing Finance Agency.
You can read the full report here. The recommendations start on page 87.
"These bills reflect our commitment to enact meaningful change from bolstering affordable housing initiatives, immediate financial relief of our most vulnerable to implementing policies that promote equitable access to homeownership," state Sen. Hearcel Craig (D-Columbus) said.
One of the most significant problems is the lack of inventory for all home buyers and renters — but especially for affordable housing, Craig added.
"We want to incorporate changes to increase the number of projects completed, as well as expand eligible buyers to increase the owner-occupied housing supply for working Ohioans," Reynolds said.
The report also details how Cleveland is struggling with permits. According to the state, the city is backed up with applications and it often takes two months to get evaluated. So, lawmakers are proposing a pre-approval process to expedite the development and get more homes built as soon as possible.
Reynolds also said she wants to respect home rules since she knows cities have different needs. That being said, cities have been consistently begging for years for the state to provide them with more funding to help their residents.
"You said you wanted to respect home rule but there's been a depletion of the Local Government Fund over the past decade — How did that impact the housing crisis?" I asked.
"I'm not necessarily sure how that impacted the housing prices," Reynolds responded. "However, with respect to home rule, we want to make sure that we know that we're pretty much staying in our lane. This is something that we need to work collaboratively with and we realize that a lot of the housing issue is a local issue."
We have a series covering the home rule fight between cities and the state government. I've done numerous analyses showing that lawmakers tend to pick and choose which local governments have the authority to pass ordinances. Typically, it's the state supporting rural areas and denying urban areas.
The city of Columbus has now filed a lawsuit against Ohio for the new state law banning cities from regulating tobacco sales, claiming the lawmakers are infringing on home rule. This tobacco battle continues the bitter fight between the state and the cities. This story aired prior to the documents being filed.
For every 100 people in the state, there are only 40 affordable units, according to the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio's Executive Director Amy Riegel. That means the state is short about 267,000 affordable homes.
Realtor Michael Jones is supportive of the plan, noting that he struggles to find housing for his clients. He does have concerns about the costs of more requirements for building, though.
"It causes the project to cost more, causes the building to be more and, overall, you find that rents are higher," Jones said.
I asked how much these proposals would cost and where that money would come from, but the lawmakers didn't have a clear answer. Because there were so many different ideas, it is likely the funding portion will be more clear once it gets narrowed down.
Still, people in positions like Irizarry need these proposals implemented now.
"It does feel unattainable," she said.
Senate leadership is supportive of moving housing relief proposals in the coming months. President Matt Huffman (R-Lima) doesn't anticipate major policy to be fully passed until 2025; however, some stand-alone bills could be, he said.
Just Tuesday, two lawmakers in the Ohio House introduced legislation to create an annual housing fund of up to $200 million a year dedicated exclusively to providing grants to municipalities that adopt "pro-housing" policies.
Huffman, who is fighting with House Speaker Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill), said he was unaware of their legislation until their press conference.
RELATED: Ohio lawmakers try to tackle affordable housing shortage in bipartisan bill
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