Statehouse rally Oct. 27 at noon to protect Ohio parks from fracking: Speakers include author David Pepper, University of Dayton sustainability director Robert Brecha, Ohio Third Act coordinator Jess Grim, and Joe Blanda of Physicians for Social Responsibility. Sign up for the rally and find ride share at this link.
Nancy Sullivan of Church of our Saviour, Cincinnati shared the alert. “Ohio’s Oil and Gas Land Management Commission will meet soon to decide whether to approve or deny nominations to frack Salt Fork State Park, Wolf Run State Park, Valley Run Wildlife Area, and Zepernick Wildlife Area.
“The commission chair has stated that the legislature requires them to approve these nominations. That is not true. This commission has the power to deny fracking in our state parks and wildlife areas. This is not just a problem of the environment. It’s also a spiritual crisis, a health crisis, and a crisis of democracy in Ohio. Only by banding together will our groups be able to send this message loud and clear — just 10 days before an election — the people of Ohio want our parks and our democracy intact.”
Ohio’s affordable housing crisis affects people you care about. What’s driving it? Cincinnati voters will vote Nov. 7th on Issue 24, which would restore a small earnings tax deleted in 2020, and use it create a dedicated annual funding stream for affordable housing. Twenty bills have been introduced in the current session of Ohio’s state legislature, on an array of issues from evictions to the growing problem of institutional investors snapping up homes.
This week’s post takes you to succinct, shocking information from the Coalition on Homeless and Housing in Ohio (COHHIO) on the growing affordability crisis in communities across the state. This will help you understand the factors driving Ohio’s housing market as you prepare to contact state legislators and advocate on decisions by local governments, including the referendum in Cincinnati.
Policies to promote housing security face powerful opposition in the Ohio Senate, whose draft budget abolished the Ohio Housing Finance Agency and stripped out the House’s $100 million workforce housing tax credit. Both programs were rescued in the conference committee that finalized the state budget. Another major hurdle is local “Not in My Back Yard” opposition to affordable housing.
“COHHIO and many other stakeholders are battling to increase the opportunities for affordable housing, facing barriers at the state level and local level. A lot of it is misunderstanding,” says the Rev. Douglas Argue, COHHIO’s, Managing Director and an Episcopal deacon of our diocese.
As an example, he cites the seldom-discussed but growing trend of elderly Ohioans – people the same age as more of our parishioners – becoming homeless. “From a faith perspective, who is your neighbor?” he asks. “When you look at legislation and election flyers about policies affecting our neighbors who can’t afford housing, study Scripture and pray. What does that do to our perception of who our neighbor is and how we act towards them?”
The COHHIO posts document policies that work. For example:
- The Federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit has financed over 146,000 units of affordable housing in Ohio. The new State Housing Tax Credit will further incentivize the development of affordable rental housing.
- The Ohio Housing Trust Fund (funded by fees that need to be updated), has paid for housing development and rehab in communities well beyond the “inner city,” including Lancaster, Newark, and the Hocking Valley.
Douglas Argue noted several current bills that COHHIO is tracking:
- HB 7 would restore a program – cut in the biennial budget – to reduce infant mortality by helping pregnant women to maintain stable housing.
- HB 3 would authorize more affordable housing tax credits
- HB 57 would offer legal help to individual families facing eviction, Without it, they usually lose in court.
- HB 50 would tackle the collateral sanctions that block Ohioans from getting housing because of a prior criminal record. It has passed the House and is being reviewed in the Senate Community Revitalization Committee.
Affordability gap across the state: “OHFA’s new Annual Plan shows that 25 percent of Ohio renters are spending at least half their income on housing, up from a record low just a few years earlier. Meanwhile, Ohio has a shortage of 270,000 affordable rental units available to the state’s 448,000 extremely low-income renters,” COHHIO reported in a June 30 press release.
“In late 2020, we started seeing an alarming spike in housing costs, both in the real estate and the rental housing market. After a decade of increasing, Ohio’s homeownership rate fell from a high of 70% in 2020 to 64% two years later. That marks the first time on record that Ohio’s homeownership rate was lower than the national average of 66%,” said COHHIO Executive Director Amy Riegel in her Sept. 13 testimony to the new Senate Select Committee on Housing.
“At the same time, average rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Ohio increased by 24% between August 2020 and August 2022, according to Apartment List rent estimates. The Ohio Housing Finance Agency’s recent Housing Needs Assessment found Ohio rents are now higher than in any year on record other than 2021, even when adjusted for inflation.
“As rents spiked and mortgage interest rates climbed in recent years, aspiring first-time homebuyers are having trouble saving up for a down payment. That means many would-be homeowners remain renters for longer periods of time, increasing the demand for rental housing, which drives the cost of rent higher, putting homeownership further out of reach. These would-be homeowners are also competing with lower income renters for a dwindling supply of rental units with rapidly escalating rents. The brunt of the crisis is being inflicted on Ohioans who are working high-demand, low-wage jobs, often pushing them into eviction and, in the worst-case scenarios, homelessness.
“Housing costs have grown much faster than income, especially for those in the lower income brackets. Renters need to earn at least $19.09/hour to afford a basic 2BR apartment in Ohio. But only three of the 10 most common jobs actually pay that much. This has created a situation where today nearly 708,000 Ohio renters are spending over half their income on rent.”
You can see from this chart of Bureau of Labor Statistics 2022 data that only three job categories of the ten that employ the most Ohioans – registered nurses, general operations mangers, and truck drivers – earn more thatn $19.09 an hour. Read more in the 2023 Ohio Out of Reach report.
“’It’s not just fast-food workers, hotel maids, big box store cashiers, and home health aides who are struggling to keep a roof over their heads. The low-wage, high-rent gap is impacting people who assemble parts in factories, fill orders at warehouses, ship freight, and answer the phone when you have problems with your internet service,’ Riegel said in a June 14 press release.
“The Housing Wage… is highest in urban and suburban areas like Union County, Columbus and Cincinnati. However, the gap between rents and wages is wider in many more rural areas. For example, renters need to earn $22.37/hour to afford a 2-bedroom apartment in Fairfield County, where the average renter earns only $12.10/hour – a gap of $10.27/hour. Other counties with extreme gaps between rents and average renter income include Licking, Athens, Brown, Morrow, Pickaway, Madison, Hocking and Geauga counties.
“’When so many jobs pay too little to afford a secure place to live, families are forced to make impossible decisions about whether to pay the rent, buy food, or forego medicine, transportation or education,” she said. “A precarious workforce means tired, stressed, unhealthy employees, higher absenteeism, and lower productivity. Affordable housing is a key factor that prospective employers consider when making decisions about where to site new operations.’”
Fact-checking opposition to Cincinnati’s Affordable Housing initiative, Issue 24: Cincinnati voters have been grappling with whether to support Issue 24, which would restore a small earnings tax that residents had paid until 2020. This would generate from $40-$50 million a year to promote affordable housing, with 65% going to people earning 30% of the average median income or below. That covers one in three renters in the city. John Calhoun, an affordable advocate from Church of the Redeemer, notes you can read the case for Issue 24 on the website written by Cincinnati Advocates for Housing Now. Cincinnati Public Radio’s WVXU hosted a debate on the measure between Josh Spring of Cincinnati’s Homeless Coalition and Cincinnati Councilmember Reggie Harris.
John sent this review of the opposition case. “The opposition appears to be led by the Realtors Association of Greater Cincinnati and the Chamber of Commerce. They recently posted a toolkit that I found less than convincing as reasons to vote no. It makes claims about Issue 24 that are false, or at least not fully forthcoming. They do propose alternative strategies.
“I actually believe the opposition’s proposed strategies can work together with Issue 24 as part of a comprehensive plan, which the city government also desires.” Unlike the opposition strategies, however, “Issue 24 prioritizes housing affordability for low-income households, where the greatest need is. The funds generated by the Issue 24 amendment are to be used for housing affordable at or below 30%, 50%, & 80% median income levels, with a majority going towards those at 30% median income. The funds can be used in any neighborhood of the city. Issue 24 also provides a sustainable funding source for the housing, which many of the opposition’s proposed strategies would need. The opposition’s proposed strategies do not make such distinctions or identify a funding source except the status quo of tax abatements and/or credits which benefit developers, landlords, and wealthy homeowners first. Without these distinctions, affordable housing efforts risk continuing the status quo of prioritizing profits and/or tax breaks for developers, realtors, and wealthy property owners.
“The mayor, city council, and democratic party leaders are using some of the same opposition arguments. The mayor and city council also continue to tell us to wait for a report from the Futures Commission that was formed last year. But this commission is largely represented by local for-profit corporations and businesses, many of whom are also members of the Chamber of Commerce. You can read about the Futures Commission at the Chamber’s Strategic Initiatives link.
“As for alternatives for funding, Cincinnati City Council has been relying on one-time federal funding and year end carryover, neither of which are guaranteed. In addition, City Council has been placing those funds in a different trust fund – the Affordable Housing Leverage Fund – which prioritizes 60% median income and above. Issue 24 places them in Fund 439 of the Affordable Housing Trust Fund which prioritizes households at or below 30% median income, where the greatest need is. As Becoming Beloved Community, it’s important to recognize that due to the 2.5X racial wealth gap, Black families disproportionately make up the households at low incomes.”
Constitutional amendment to prevent gerrymandering can now collect signatures: the citizen initiative to take redistricting out of the hands of elected officials has been approved as a single issue. Proponents can begin collecting more than 400,000 signatures needed to qualify it for the November 2024 ballot.
The statewide coalition Citizens not Politicians is now training volunteers to collect signatures. SIGN UP TO VOLUNTEER! Once you sign up, you will be contacted with information about logistics. “Volunteers collecting signatures are so important,” says Catherine Turcer of Common Cause Ohio. “Every conversation with a voter is an opportunity to educate, engage, and build the path toward fair districts, fair elections, and more accountable representation.”
If you have not yet participated in a Fair Districts petition circulation training, here are some upcoming dates with registration links:
- Thurs., Oct 26 at noon, register here.
- Wed., Nov 1 @ noon, register here.
- Thurs., Nov 2 @ 7pm, register here.
- Wed., Nov 8 @ 6pm Huddle , register here.
- Tues., Nov 14 @ noon, register here.
- Tues., Nov 21 @ noon, register here.
- Mon., Nov 30 @ 6pm, register here.
Advocacy briefings are compiled by Ariel Miller, a longtime community advocate and member of Ascension & Holy Trinity, Wyoming. Connect with her at arielmillerwriter@gmail.com
