Ohio Senate added $100 million worth of housing provisions in the state's two-year budget
The Ohio Senate's version of the state's two-year budget fully restores the Ohio Housing Trust Fund, a big source of funding for local homelessness and affordable housing programs.
Ohio Senate President Rob McColley, R-Napoleon, and Ohio Sen. Jerry Cirino, R-Kirtland, introduced the Senate's version of the budget Tuesday and it took out language the Ohio House added that would have changed the Housing Trust Fund, created in 1991 and administered by the Ohio Department of Development.
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The Housing Trust Fund is funded by a portion of the fees collected by county recorders, with half of the fees staying with the county and the other half going back to the fund — which requires at least 50% of the funds be spent in non-urban areas. The House budget would have removed the requirement for county recorders to send the state Department of Development money to reallocate the funds, making it less effective across the state.
'We are incredibly thankful to our champions in the Senate who understand that the Ohio Housing Trust Fund is the state's most powerful tool for fighting homelessness and expanding affordable housing,' Amy Riegel, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio, said in a statement.
The Housing Trust Fund provided emergency shelter for more than 27,000 Ohioans last year, she said.
The Senate added $100 million worth of housing provisions in the budget that will create two programs — the Residential Economic Development District grants and Residential Development Revolving Loan Program.
The Residential Economic Development District is a $10 million program.
'(This program) is aimed at going to areas where there is an awful lot of anticipated housing growth, particularly areas around major economic development projects, and incentivizing local governments around those areas to streamline their zoning codes, to put zoning codes in place, in some cases, that will allow for these housing projects to move forward more efficiently,' McColley said.
The Residential Development Revolving Loan Program would support building new, single-family residential homes in rural parts of the state. The Senate's budget would direct $90 million into a revolving loan fund for local governments to finance the program.
'What we're seeing in many rural parts of the state are areas where it is simply uneconomical for home developers to come in and build in many of our rural communities because of the fact that the cost of infrastructure is so onerous in those areas that the amount of homes they would need to build just to break even is simply way more than that local market can absorb,' McColley said.
The Senate's version of the budget would also move the Ohio Housing Finance Agency to under the Department of Development.
The budget now goes to a conference committee, where Senate and House leaders have closed-door negotiations to come up with a final budget. Both chambers have to pass the bill and it will then be sent to Gov. Mike DeWine, who must sign the budget by the end of the month.
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