Columbus continues affordable housing fight as some funding drops
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – The City of Columbus will now have a more centralized approach to tackling its housing crisis.
It's a plan that's been in the works for years and has now come together as a new division in the city.
NBC4 spoke with a man who is almost 70 and spent last year living on the streets and in a shelter. Now, he's in a safe apartment, thanks to Community Housing Network (CHN), a non-profit that develops permanent supportive housing.
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On Monday, Columbus City Council moved to make stories like his more common. The legislation will centralize the work to combat the affordable housing crisis.
'I had my ups and downs; I had my good days and my bad days,' CHN resident Donald Hodge said.
Hodge was living on the street, then in a shelter until March. Now, he's in a 55+ living facility built by Community Housing Network.
'Oh, my goodness, I was so happy,' Hodge said. 'I couldn't believe it.'
'It gives stability,' Community Housing Network CEO Annissa Lambirth-Garrett said. 'It allows individuals to have a place where they can focus on their personal well-being. They have a roof over their head, a basic need. Without it, how can you recuperate when you're coming home from the hospital? Or if you're someone who is suffering from a disability? How can you thrive and grow if you don't have a place to call home?'
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CHN is part of a group of organizations working to combat the housing crisis in Columbus. Now the city is making its work with these groups and on housing in general more centralized.
'It's a long time coming to have a place in the city whose main job is to make sure that renters have support and have someone looking out for them,' Columbus City Council President Shannon Hardin said.
The division will provide legal counsel to low-income tenants facing eviction, ensure people affected by emergency vacate orders are supported, and expand access to information that will help people stay in their homes.
'Now it just has a home where we can have folks that are able to identify when issues are coming around, have a place where we can send folks to engage with the city, and really a place that can hold folks accountable,' Hardin said.
Work is already underway and hiring for the division will start at the end of June.
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Council has also approved the last of the emergency rental assistance funds to be used to help Columbus residents facing eviction; the city approved $1 million, left over from pandemic-era federal funds. It represents the last of the second round of emergency rental assistance that was part of the 2021 American Rescue Plan.
This money went to organizations helping keep people in their homes, from fighting back against evictions to direct payments to landlords. Now, the money is gone and the city is tasked with finding new ways to keep people in their homes.
'We will continue to make a forceful economic argument why we need to find a way to support, but there is a truth that we need the federal government to be a partner in this, we need the state government to be a partner in this,' Hardin said.
Since the pandemic, Columbus has put out nearly $91 million in emergency rental assistance.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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