New Affordable Housing Projects to Stabilize Columbus Housing Market
The Columbus housing market has been showing signs of stabilization after several years of stagnation. The Columbus Dispatch reports that the southern side of the city is making the strongest rebound after years of deterioration and tepid job growth. However, policymakers have remained concerned about the lack of affordable housing options for many low income residents. They have recently passed several new measures to address the problem, which should commence shortly.
New Affordable Housing Projects Are Initiated
City officials have recently started working closely with the leaders of several nonprofit organizations to help develop affordable housing plans. Rev. John Edgar, executive director of Community Development for All People, is one of the leaders they spoke with a couple months ago.
“We have a whole lot of folks on the South Side who are housing-cost burdened,” Edgar said.
The Community Development for All People and over a dozen other nonprofits have put together an outline of ideas to streamline affordable housing production. Here are some of the key points they have raised:
- All nonprofits will collaborate to build 250 rentals for low income residents
- Habitat for Humanity will build 30 new houses
- Rehabilitating three dozen homes in the Hungarian Village and Reeb-Hosack neighborhoods
They only convened to collaborate on these plans a couple months ago, but have already begun making considerable progress.
Funding for Four New Projects is Approved
Several nonprofits have already received funding for their affordable housing programs. Homeport was recently awarded a $811,250 grant to renovate 59 multifamily units in Short North. The entire project will require about $10 million in funding, which will be secured through additional grants and loans. George Tabit, Vice President of Homeport, told reporters that the move will help reverse growing demand for more expensive housing to provide affordable housing to less fortunate citizens.
The Community Action Organization, Community Housing Network of Columbus and Central Ohio Housing Development Organization have each received grants collectively worth over $1.2 million. They are confident that the funding will go a long way towards paying for their affordable housing initiatives in the communities they serve, but will still need additional money.
Other affordable housing plans are expected to be announced in the near future. However, the nonprofits are currently focused on fulfilling their most recent promises, which could up to a year to complete.
