Finding creative solutions to central Ohio's housing shortage

Yahoo

12-02-2025

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Housing in America has reached a critical stage, and central Ohio is feeling the crunch.
According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, the U.S. has a shortage of 7.3 million rental homes available to renters with extremely low incomes. That shortage directly relates to an increase in homelessness. The Community Shelter Board in Columbus says homelessness in central Ohio could increase by as much as 68% over the next four years.
'We have low vacancy rates here within our region and very, very high increased rent rates, that when you add those two things together, it actually causes an increase of homelessness,' said Shannon Isom, Community Shelter Board President & CEO.
Those statistics suggest some creative solutions are needed, and one potential solution is already physically in place. According to CBRE, Columbus has more than 1 million square feet of empty office space undergoing renovation into other uses, including new housing space.
'You see there is a huge opportunity here to turn these vacant offices into new and better uses,' said Jessica Moran of CBRE.
But not all empty office space is a perfect fit for new housing, and that's for a variety of reasons. 'Even if they (developers) are buying it at a steep discount, it still is more expensive to convert those than it is to build brand new, multifamily complexes,' said CBRE's Michael Copella.
Local builders like Brad DeHays of Connect Real Estate have scooped up properties throughout Columbus. He says repurposing office space carries more benefits than just the new housing. 'Any time you have large vacant buildings, it affects the retail, it affects parking, it affects other businesses because a half vacant building is very difficult to recover from,' DeHays said.
DeHays' company has transformed several former office spaces into new apartment living. His property at 174 Front Street is a former office building now redeveloped into 32 apartments in a growing portion of downtown.
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He's also developed a pre-built apartment process to quickly transform other buildings into more affordable options. 'Builders want to see density. Well, now it's a supply/demand issue with demand constantly rising and construction costs constantly rising,' he said.
Five years ago, CSB partnered with other local agencies to turn a former Country Inn & Suites in Northland into a new apartment space concept called 'The Mediterranean.' It's a space intended for people dealing with homelessness to provide stability towards new housing. Today, it remains a creative solution in an unstable marketplace.
'I'm proposing that there's not going to be enough money to solve for it without having a new way to think about housing,' Isom said.
The City of Columbus has responded with a re-zoning plan, allowing for more affordable housing in the city to be developed quickly. That plan is to build 100,000 new homes in the next decade.
'For builders and developers like myself, it allows you to have clarity on what's going to be allowed on real estate. And that clarity is what it takes to recruit investment,' DeHays said. 'Those are things really that you need, especially when you're trying to take on some of the most expensive real estate in Ohio.'
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