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Tag: National Low Income Housing Coalition

  • “A great step forward,” Senate’s budget restores proposed affordable housing tax credit program

    “A great step forward,” Senate’s budget restores proposed affordable housing tax credit program

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    The amount of credits would be capped at $100 million, creating about 4,000 housing units during the program’s term.

    BY:  Ohio Capital Journal

    In a positive turn of events, the Senate’s version of the two-year operating budget restores a new affordable housing tax credit program that was originally nowhere to be seen in the Senate’s proposed budget.

    The program would attract developers to build low-income housing by making state tax credits accessible to projects receiving federal aid. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine proposed the program by putting it in his budget, but the Senate’s initial proposed budget cut the program altogether — causing an outcry from housing advocates, who called it an “all out assault … on rental housing.”

    But DeWine’s version of the affordable housing tax credit program was back in the budget the Senate passed last week.

    “With the state housing tax credit it would bring new dollars to the state of Ohio for the production of affordable workforce housing,” said Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio (COHHIO) executive director Amy Riegel. “This will help build new housing units into communities all across the state that will help drive that economic growth and offer communities new options for housing for their workforce.”

    The Senate went with what DeWine originally proposed: capping the amount of credits at $100 million, which would create about 4,000 housing units during the program’s term from July 2 to June 30, 2027, Riegel said.

    “Restoring the governor’s introduced program is a great step forward,” she said.

    However, the House’s budget proposal had upped the amount of credits to $500 million, which would have created 26,000 housing units, Riegel said.

    “That’s a significant difference,” she said. “We hope there may still be room to consider the House’s version of the state housing tax credit knowing just how much of a deficit we have right now in housing across the state and the economic development that is on the horizon.”

    Shortage of affordable housing

    There is a deficit of about 270,000 affordable and available rental units to the 448,000 extremely low-income households in Ohio — meaning there are only 40 affordable units for every 100 households, according to a March report from COHHIO and the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC).

    “In recent years we’ve seen the number of affordable rental units plummet, which means more families are experiencing longer bouts of homelessness,” Erica Mulryan, Director of the Ohio Balance of State Continuum of Care, said in a news release.

    Full-time workers in Ohio need to make at least $19.09 an hour to afford a 2-bedroom apartment in Ohio — a $2.04 increase from last year, according to a new joint report according from the NLIHC and COHHIO.

    “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,” Riegel said in a release. “A precarious workforce means tired, stressed, unhealthy employees, higher absenteeism, and lower productivity.”

    Nixing the Ohio Housing Finance Agency

    The Senate’s version of the budget would transfer the Ohio Housing Finance Agency (OHFA) to the newly created Governor’s Office of Housing Transformation starting in January.

    OHFA has a proposed budget of $16.8 million for fiscal year 2024 and $17.4 for fiscal year 2025 — a nearly 8% percent decrease for both years when compared to the House’s version of the budget.

    Under the Senate’s budget, all the current employees of OHFA would stay on staff, but the governor would be able to pick the director and appoint all new members.  The number of Tax Credit Authority members would increase from five to seven and the office would have to get the green light from the Tax Credit Authority before approving funding for multifamily rental housing.

    The budget would also nix their authority to create pilot programs to increase housing opportunities for “extremely low-income households, pregnant women, and new mothers,” according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Legislative Service Commission.

    Affordable Housing Alliance of Central Ohio said it’s crucial OHFA remains independent.

    “This was a firewall erected nearly twenty years ago by Republican legislators to keep influence from developers, lobbyists, and other special interests shielded from the funding decisions our local communities rely upon,” AHACO said in a statement.

    “The Alliance respectfully requests that this monumental shift in state policy be given the full debate it deserves by removing it from the fast-moving budget and allowing hearings and expert opinions on the ramifications Ohio may suffer.”

    State Sen. Kent Smith, D-Euclid, implored his fellow Senators not to make these changes to OHFA during last week’s Senate session.

    “It’s the last thing we should be doing,” he said. “Frankly, we don’t need to eliminate OHFA, we need it on steroids to meet the needs of Ohioans.”

    He said transferring OHFA to the governor’s office will “add bureaucratic hurdles that will jeopardize Ohio’s economic growth.”

    “The Senate’s proposal will put housing that is affordable further out of reach for many Ohioans,” Smith said.

    DeWine must sign the budget by June 30.

    Follow OCJ Reporter Megan Henry on Twitter.

    Megan Henry
    MEGAN HENRY

    Megan Henry is a reporter for the Ohio Capital Journal and has spent the last five years reporting on various topics including education, healthcare, business and crime at The Columbus Dispatch, part of the USA Today Network.

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  • Advocates urge at-risk tenants to apply for eviction moratorium

    Advocates urge at-risk tenants to apply for eviction moratorium

    By Ohio Capital Journal Staff

    Advocates from the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio are advising tenants facing eviction to act immediately to get protection under the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s new eviction moratorium.

    The CDC recently issued the first ever nationwide order temporarily banning the eviction of tenants who are unable to pay rent in order to help prevent the spread of coronavirus, a news release this week from COHHIO said. While the moratorium applies to many cases where people have fallen behind on their rent payments, tenants must follow specific steps in order to qualify, it emphasized.

    “This so-called moratorium is not automatic. Tenants need to submit a declaration demonstrating that they are eligible for the moratorium to cover them,” said COHHIO Executive Director Bill Faith. “If you’re behind on rent, don’t wait. See if local emergency rental assistance is available in your community, and file a declaration to make sure you don’t get evicted during this public health crisis.”

    Tenants earning less $99,000/year, or $198,000/year for joint tax filers, who are unable to pay full or partial rent due to a loss of income or extraordinary medical expenses are eligible for the CDC’s eviction moratorium, the release said. However, they must file a form certifying that they have tried to obtain government assistance to pay rent and will likely have to move in with another household or become homeless if they are evicted, it noted.

    Diane Yentel, president and CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, noted that tenants still have to pay rent each month and could still get evicted when the order expires.

    “The very least the government ought to do in the middle of a global pandemic is assure each of us that we’re not going to lose our homes,” she said. “The CDC moratorium keeps people in their homes today, but the rent is still due and the debt that renters owe will build each month until the moratorium expires on Dec. 31. And at that point all the back rent and late fees will be due.”

    The release also noted that several communities have allocated funds to help at-risk residents pay the rent during this crisis, but assistance is limited and not available in many areas.

    “Furthermore, demand for emergency rental assistance will soon outstrip local resources as the pandemic-induced recession continues into the winter,” the release said, noting that neither U.S. Congress nor the Ohio General Assembly have created an emergency rental assistance program.

    Carlie Boos, executive director of the Affordable Housing Alliance of Central Ohio, said the CDC moratorium highlights the need for the state and federal governments to provide emergency rental assistance.

    “Allowing tenants to fall deeper and deeper into debt not only ruins Ohioans’ future – it puts the entire housing market at risk,” she said. “Our state and federal leaders must prioritize emergency rental assistance to stabilize both vulnerable families and our vulnerable economy.”

    The release advised that tenants who are behind on rent should immediately seek rental assistance and send a declaration form to their landlord, and the court if they have already received an eviction notice.