How central Ohio housing shortage affects the elderly

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – An expert is shedding new light on just how bad the housing crisis in central Ohio has become, especially for the elderly.

The City of Columbus voted to invest millions toward this housing crisis, but it's expected to get worse.

Housing costs continue to rise and for senior citizens who want to stay in their own home, this can be an insurmountable issue.

Competition for affordable housing continues to grow and some reports show Columbus' population doubling by 2050.

Central Ohio Agency on Aging Outreach Manager Lynn Dobb said many seniors are on a fixed income and if their home rent rises, or any number of emergencies happen, it can spell disaster, and wait lists for subsidized housing are lengthy.

"There is no emergency housing,” Dobb said. “Emergency housing is the shelters. It could be a year, two years, three years. Some of these, I've even heard longer, and when you're in need of housing yesterday, that's not a good answer."

Dobb said the first thing that needs to be done is investing in building more housing and finding a way to stabilize rent because income is not increasing with rent.