Council OKs millions to help Columbus' less fortunate
More than $4 million has been approved for almost 200 units of affordable housing across two complexes, two examples of how the city is getting creative to meet the extreme demand for housing.
'We think that affordable housing is a top one, two and three issue in our community,' Columbus City Council President Shannon Hardin said. 'As rents continue to rise, we want to make sure that we can make sure that Columbus stays affordable for all of us.'
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One development will be built on the near east side and will have 84 units. Rent will be restricted to 60% of the area median income. U.S. Census data for Columbus says that income would be a little more than $39,000 annually.
'It's all about housing innovation for affordability,' Hardin said. 'This is a local company that is building the houses in a modular factory right here in Columbus. So, we're hiring local folks to build housing quicker, which means it's more efficient and it saves money.'
The second development that received a big chunk of funding is 88 units in Harrison West. Rent will also be restricted to 60% of the area median income. Structures already exist at this site, so the funding will be used for redevelopment and preservation of the existing buildings.
'We are not building new affordable housing here,' Hardin said. 'We are making sure that the naturally occurring affordable housing is able to stay. We're coming in, we're renovating.'
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Hardin said the keyword for this legislation is innovation.
'We're really excited about this model of renovating and yet holding the costs so that the rent does not go up for the folks that are living there,' Hardin said.
The money comes from bond dollars. This fall, the city will have a bond issue on the ballot for half a billion dollars for affordable housing.
Also on Monday, council approved hundreds of thousands of dollars to increase access to food and addiction recovery.
Half a million dollars will be allocated to a new residential addiction recovery campus. The organization building the space, called The Refuge, has been in operation for years, providing faith-based recovery services to men.
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The new space will be in the Hilltop and will centralize services, including group counseling and mental health services. It's a project that has been in the works for years.
'This is an investment in the Hilltop, like, we want to create a campus because we love the Hilltop and what it's done for us and we love how our guys partner with community organizations,' The Refuge Chief Development Officer Austin Hill said. 'This is a long time coming and we're excited to actually see it happen.'
On the east side of Columbus, $2 million was approved for the Eastland Prosperity Center.
The Mid-Ohio Food Collective is working on a massive space that will offer access to food, a health care center in partnership with Ohio State University, and additional support. Construction is planned to start this summer with a tentative opening date in the middle of next year.
'The Eastland community is one of the most underserved areas within the entirety 20 counties that we serve,' Mike Hochron with the collective said. 'In fact, many people in Eastland are driving all the way down to Grove City in order to access food, and it's really important that we make food accessible where and when people need it.'
Resources from the Mid-Ohio Food Collective can be found here. Resources through The Refuge can be found here.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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