The Latest on Ohio's Affordable Housing Gap

Affordable housing, what's that? Housing that's *gasp* actually affordable? 🙀 We'll believe it when we see it. In the meantime, we'll keep watching all these high rise apartments go up in the city and wonder who the heck's moving in. 🤔

In Ohio, there's a bit of good affordable housing news. Based on a new report, the state's shortage of affordable housing is shrinking.📉

 

Here’s Five Fast Facts on Ohio's affordable housing:

  1. 🤏 It's Shrinkage - So just how much did the shortage shrink by in the Buckeye State? According to recent data, the difference between affordable rental units and extremely low-income households fell by 3,017 over the last year. The data also shows that, statewide, the ratio between affordable units to every 100 households remained the same at 40. 
  1. 🏙️ Big City Life - Wondering what the shortages are like in Ohio's largest cities? Cincinnati has a shortage of 49,510 units, Cleveland has 56,560, and Columbus came in at 52,694.
  1. 👎 How Low Can You Go - When it comes to housing availability for the poorest residents, Columbus took the L. The ratio of affordable units available to extremely low-income renters in Columbus was 26 to 100. That's lower than the 41 to 100 ratio in Cincinnati and Cleveland.
  1. 🏘️ Hate to Be a Burden - Only 2% of Ohio’s middle-income renters spend more than half their income on rent. Compare that number to the 70% of low-income renters who are considered “severely housing cost-burdened.” According to the report, that’s the highest percentage since 2016.
  1. 📊 Supply Situation - Although Ohio's closed the gap a bit, affordable housing is still an issue all across the U.S. Data shows that most rental markets have enough supply for middle-income renters, however no market in the country has enough homes for extremely low-income renters.

🔥Bottom line: Even though they tell us inflation is cooling, sky high rents and mortgages are no joke. Hard working folks deserve a decent place to live without breaking the bank. Did you hear about Biden's plans to make housing more affordable? Looks like ol' Joe's gonna give it a shot, but will it amount to anything? Check out our thoughts about it right here

How affordable is the housing in your local area?

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