Columbus MHA CEO: Landlords who join affordable housing fight can get cash incentives

Date Published: 
January 12th, 2022

From Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority CEO Charles Hillman's op-ed in The Columbus Dispatch:

The Columbus Dispatch, in partnership with The Columbus Foundation, deserves praise for presenting the Columbus Conversation: "Can People Afford to Live Here?" on Dec. 14.

The community forum identified many issues about the affordable housing crisis in Greater Columbus and highlighted many of the innovative approaches’ community leaders are working toward to address the challenge.

The affordable housing crisis is not unique to our region – it’s a problem throughout the entire nation.

For decades, new housing production has lagged behind household growth in our country, resulting in a severe shortage of affordable homes. In 2021, the U.S. faced an estimated shortage of between 5.5-6.8 million units, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.

To close this "underbuilding gap," the center projects the U.S. would need to construct 60% more units than were created in 2020 over the next decade.

Unfortunately, no magic wand solution is imminent that will solve the crisis overnight in Central Ohio and beyond.

The Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA), administers nearly 13,000 federal vouchers in Franklin County, and provides rental assistance to a total of 80,000 households (250,000 individuals) throughout Ohio and Washington D.C. In 2021, we issued over 5,160 vouchers in Franklin County.

Approximately 1,700 families out of those 5,160 vouchers are actively looking for a place to call home in Greater Columbus, even though they have a Housing Choice Voucher.

An important activity discussed during the Columbus Conversation that deserves greater attention is CMHA’s heightened efforts to entice more landlords and property owners to consider renting units that qualify as affordable housing to Housing Choice Voucher recipients.

Through CMHA’s Landlord Incentive Program, we are now incentivizing landlords by paying security deposits and vacancy payments just for bringing new units into the program.

We spent over $1.4 million on this program in 2021, utilizing our allocated budget. More than 420 new landlords were added to our Housing Choice Voucher program, generating housing for over 1,100 new residents.

That is why CMHA is devoting another $1 million in 2022 to continue to build on the success of this new initiative.

Read Charles Hillman's op-ed. 

 

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