COLUMBUS, Ohio — A major investment was made here in Columbus to close the homeownership gap for the black community and people of color.
The Maude Hill Homeownership Fund has money to help families ready to make the jump to become homeowners.
Here in central Ohio, the real estate market is hot. Michael Jones is a real estate agent in Columbus, and he says that right now, it’s a sellers’ market.
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COLUMBUS, Ohio — Instead of closing, the gap between Black and white homeowners is widening, according to the Urban Institute. A new program in central Ohio aims to help bridge that gap.
The Maude Hill Growing Homeownership Fund is now available for qualifying first-time homebuyers in Franklin County. The fund provides up to $15,000 as a five-to-one match of personal savings to help with a down payment, closing costs and other eligible expenses to participants who meet eligibility criteria.
Colulmbus' 31% minority homeownership gap is the second highest of any metro area in the U.S.
"That's what homeownership and that's what this fund is really about," said Columbus city councilman Nick Bankston. "It is about providing opportunities for the next generation of folks to call Columbus home."
The fund is the result of partnerships between banks and community organizations who raised $1 million to help reduce the racial homeownership divide in Columbus.
For more information, visit bloom614.org.
"We have a very strong land bank network with the expertise to lead this work and prove the pilot program is worthy of being made permanent," said Carlie Boos,
Rising housing costs are creating significant challenges for Ohioans seeking affordable homes - especially those with the lowest incomes.
According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), to afford a two-bedroom home in Ohio without spending more than 30% of your income on rent, you will need an annual household income of $39,702.
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"We have not had enough affordable housing for a very, very long time. But one of the novel things about what we're seeing is that that instability is creeping up the economic ladder," said Carlie Boos, executive director of the Affordable Housing Alliance of Central Ohio. "And it's not just minimum wage earners who are feeling the pinch. It's not just retirees who are feeling the pinch, but now it's folks who are working 40 hours a week in a very respectable profession."
A report from Affordable Housing Alliance of Central Ohio titled “Finding Home in the Heart of it All” shows that in the last five years, the number of Franklin County households who put more than half of their income toward housing has decreased, but high housing costs remain a burden to tens of thousands of families in the region.
Five years ago, around 54,000 county households were severely burdened by housing cost, but that has dropped to about 52,000, according to the report. The report attributes the decrease to efforts to tame housing costs from both county and Columbus leaders.
In the 15-county central Ohio region, however, some 80,000 households are severely burdened, the report says. It also says area home prices are growing three times faster than the median household income.
The report focused on the health, educational and economic impacts of housing stability.
Kyle May, of the firm MKSK Studio, is a lead researcher on the project and says that evidence has linked housing stability to better healthcare access and better health outcomes.
“This housing shortage creates real physical and mental health challenges and elevates healthcare costs. I think we all kind of feel that,” May said.
Canal Winchester 6th grade teacher Cara Jeffers said children who move frequently because of unstable housing have difficulty building relationships and struggle in school. She said she sees 6th graders reading at a 1st grade level – and some students had been to as many as four school districts before coming to Canal Winchester, due to housing instability.
Jeffers says she also worries about her own stability.
“The average salary to afford a home in Columbus, Ohio is $75,000. Currently, I make 20,000 less than that as a young professional with a teaching career,” Jeffers said. “I not only carry the burden of worrying about my students daily, but I worry about myself and my abilities to make ends meet.”
AT&T Ohio President Molly Kocour Boyle said she wants employees in Ohio to be able to come in everyday and focus on the job at hand.
“But we also know that there are so many factors that impact how they show up at work,” Boyle said. “How much of their paycheck is going to housing costs? Do they have to work multiple jobs to make sure that they can maintain that shelter?”
The AHACO report goes on to warn that "if swift action is not taken," another 20,000 households could become seriously burdened by the cost of housing by 2040. This means that "by the time today's 1st graders are graduating college, a population the size of Newark, Ohio, will have slipped into housing instability," according to AHACO.
In addition to revealing the report Tuesday, the Affordable Housing Alliance set out a plan to close housing gaps. The plan includes expanding grant funding for affordable housing and increasing access to low-cost loans to finance affordable construction, among other strategies.
Central Ohio's poorest residents could live 5½ years longer if the region significantly boosts its housing stock, according to a new study that seeks to measure the peripheral damage of high housing costs.
The study, released Tuesday by the Affordable Housing Alliance of Central Ohio, concludes that 83,000 central Ohio households spend more than half their income on housing, well above the 30% threshold of what is considered affordable.
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A new report shows that if Central Ohio were able to close its housing gap, 40,000 jobs would be added annually, 600 additional children would graduate high school and the region would add 25,000 people to its middle class.
The Affordable Housing Alliance of Central Ohio Tuesday released research showing that about 80,000 Central Ohio residents are paying more than half their income for housing. If the 15-county region does nothing, 20,000 people will be added to that figure by 2040.
"We have two very clear paths," said Carlie Boos, executive director of AHACO. "We can do nothing, or we can act."
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CONVERGENCE Columbus has launched a new initiative, Bloom614, a consumer site and effort aimed to support the homebuying journey for Black and minority residents.
CONVERGENCE is a city-based pilot program to promote and increase minority homeownership. It is currently live in Philadelphia, Memphis, Tenn., and Columbus, Ohio.
Bloom614 (with the 614 a reference to the area code for Columbus), interactively engages Black and minority residents with industry experts, tools to find mortgage products and other resources.
“Many Black and minority communities perceive homeownership as intangible due to limited generational knowledge about the homebuying process and general distrust in financial institutions based off a history of discrimination and abuse,” said Anna Teye-Kasongo, Director of Community Partnerships for the Affordable Housing Alliance of Central Ohio. “CONVERGENCE recognizes the gaps in information, trust, resources and market strategies that impede the success of our communities along the homebuying journey.”
“Bloom614 bridges those gaps by demystifying the homebuying journey, celebrating consumer progress every step of the way, and providing wraparound support from industry professionals who share in CONVERGENCE’s commitment to eradicate the racial wealth gap. Additionally, Bloom614 takes transparency a step further by educating the community on the history of racial housing discrimination while beckoning residents to see homeownership as an opportunity to rewrite history and inspiring stakeholders to join the cause,” Teye-Kasongo continued.
The site, among other features, allows visitors to take a “readiness” quiz to determine if they’re set to buy a home, matches consumers with local and national down payments assistance products through the Downpayment Resource Matching Tool, and provides features for after individuals buy, such as information about refinancing, estate planning and foreclosure prevention.
Phase II of the site is also already underway, and will include an interactive journey map, housing glossary and more connections to local practitioners. A launch of the new version may be as soon as November.
The new initiative also has a presence on social media—specifically Facebook and Instagram.
CONVERGENCE Columbus is housed at the Affordable Housing Alliance of Central Ohio and was originally launched by the Mortgage Bankers Association, the Ohio Housing Finance Agency and the John Glenn College of Public Affairs at The Ohio State University. The program is also supported by Huntington National Bank, Fifth-Third Bank and JP Morgan Chase.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSYX) — Changing lives and futures, one student at a time. The city of Columbus is pouring funding into an effort aimed at providing stable housing for hundreds who need it.
The 'Success Bridge' program was launched at Columbus State Community College in an effort to help struggling youngsters.
The focus of the program is to give hundreds of students the support and ability to graduate school. The key point in all of this is housing, giving students a stable environment to help push their lives forward.
From Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther to city council president Shannon Hardin, the effort is vital to ensure local students have the aid necessary to complete college. A major part of that effort is secure housing.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – The City of Columbus is investing millions of dollars toward combating the city’s looming housing crisis.
Houses are getting more expensive, and, at the same time, central Ohio is growing exponentially, with some reports showing Columbus’ population doubling by 2050.
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According to Realtor.com, the median listing home price in Columbus was $289,000 as of July, a year-over-year increase of 11.2%.
“Central Ohio doesn’t need to wait to see the overcrowding and to see that unsheltered homelessness before we move,” Carlie Boos, the executive director of the Affordable Housing Alliance Central Ohio, said. “We don’t need to wait until the housing market is so broken that it takes half a million dollars to buy your first home.”