House Dems urge action on affordable housing proposals
House Democrats said Tuesday they are focused on finding proven solutions to Ohio's housing affordability crisis.
House Minority Leader Dani Isaacsohn, at a Cincinnati press conference, said the caucus has looked at other states to find commonsense solutions to address the shortage in affordable housing.
"It is a failure of policy and creativity and optimism from the Legislature in Columbus," the Cincinnati Democrat said. "We refuse to accept that and know we don't have to.
"Instead, we have looked around the country to see: Where is this working? Where are housing prices coming down? Where is the government stepping in to remove barriers, remove regulations to make it easier to increase the housing supply?"
Caucus members attending the event highlighted proposals aimed to address barriers in Ohio's housing landscape, including a pending plan to overhaul the Residential Development Revolving Loan Program (HB 857 ).
That program was created through a $100 million appropriation in the current operating budget (HB 96 ) but none of those funds have been awarded to communities, according to Rep. Karen Brownlee, D-Cincinnati.
Brownlee said her bill with Rep. Mark Sigrist, D-Grove City, would unlock those developmental funds to build houses statewide compared to current restrictions limiting them to certain rural counties.
"We're really at the whim of what the state hasn't been doing right now," she said. "Not only have we just stagnated in our housing, we've actually lost affordable housing units…mostly due to lack of investment into new home building."
The bill also expands funds to multifamily dwellings and permits loans to be used to offset construction costs, rather than limiting them to infrastructure and utility costs.
Counties would be divided into three population-based tiers for fund distribution, among other changes.
"It's a self-perpetuating program that uses tax dollars wisely and it's supposed to go to the people who need houses the most," Brownlee said. "Right now, that money is just sitting there. Not one cent of the $100 million has been used and this bill proposes to take that money, get it to the counties that need it and build homes for Ohioans."
Rep. Desiree Tims, D-Dayton, said she is planning legislation to target institutional and high-volume investors that quickly purchase homes in bulk, taking them off the market.
The proposal would establish a 30-day waiting period before investors can purchase qualifying residential properties, providing families and individuals the opportunity to compete for homes before they can be bought by investors, she said.
It would also create safeguards against private equity and corporations accumulating valuable residential housing and turning them into rental homes, Tims said.
Isaacsohn said the caucus' proposals are not just about increasing the housing supply but also about making the marketplace fair.
"Ohio House Democrats are not going to play politics with housing policy," he said. "This is about getting people into their homes, which is why we're focused on commonsense problem solving and we will work with anyone to get that done."