What economists noticed about central Ohio's housing crisis

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Economists found Franklin County and Columbus' affordable housing problems are in need of legislative support.

The Franklin County Auditor's annual tax incentives report featured work by two economists who compared Columbus and Franklin County with six other metropolitan areas of similar demographics. The economists, Mark Partridge and Nick Messenger, found Columbus can benefit from implementing policies used by its peers to help residents gain affordable housing.

Each of the metropolitan areas defines "affordable" housing differently. Columbus typically uses median family income as the determining factor for affordability. In Franklin County, it takes an average of 37.9% of the median household's income to purchase the median-priced home as of June 2024. This is a stark increase in a short amount of time; from January 2014 to January 2022, it only cost 25% of the median household's income.

According to Partridge and Messenger, Columbus area income has lagged significantly behind housing costs, contributing heavily to the affordability crisis. The Federal Housing Finance Agency measures changes in single-family home prices through the House Price Index. NBC4 compared the median income and median home prices from 2005 to 2023, overlapped with the HPI for Franklin County.

Housing costs are also rising because property values are increasing. Partridge and Messenger said new residential housing built in the Columbus MSA since 2010 only accounts for 50% of the area's growth, so housing demand has not caught up with the area's expanding population. This has led to increased property taxes, which the economists said disproportionately affects low-income residents and seniors on a fixed income, who have had to either pay more or move, contributing to gentrification.

To fix these issues, Partridge and Messenger recommend the city implement new policies regarding affordable housing. The pair recommends the Columbus MSA consider transportation around affordable living to ensure people can get to work, and to adopt laws to protect tenants from eviction and housing discrimination.

They also said pre-existing policies should be doing more. The pair recognized recent zoning code changes but said stricter affordable housing requirements and bonuses for high-density housing projects to encourage building more housing should be prioritized.

They pointed to Columbus' down payment program, which limits grants to $7,500 for first-time homebuyers. Partridge and Messenger said increasing the grant size to $15,000 would promote diverse homebuyers and better align with current prices.

Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther allotted over $100 million to affordable housing for the 2025 city budget, which has yet to be approved by City Council. Partridge and Messenger said legislative action must accompany city programming on spending to make progress on the housing crisis.