COLUMBUS, Ohio — Some state senators are sharing plans to address Ohio’s housing challenges.

What You Need To Know

  • The Ohio Senate Select Committee on Housing released its 2024 report Wednesday

  • The report includes 23 recommendations on how to address housing access, affordability and availability 

  • To collect data, the committee said it held 12 hearings and listened to more than 35 hours of testimony from at least 200 witnesses

The Ohio Senate Select Committee on Housing released its 2024 report Wednesday. It is the result of nearly eight months of work visiting communities and speaking with partners across the state.

“Housing affordability is not a partisan issue, it’s a humanitarian one,” said State Sen. Michele Reynolds. She is chair of the committee that first started investigating Ohio’s housing issues in Aug. 2023.

To collect data, the committee held 12 hearings and listened to more than 35 hours of testimony from at least 200 witnesses.

“We can no longer be casual about this issue,” Reynolds said. “It is a priority. We need to make it a priority because we’re facing challenges that are increasingly getting worse.”

The nearly 100-page report breaks down housing concerns by region of the state and shows the scope of the work that lies ahead, including 23 recommendations by the committee to help improve housing affordability, availability and accessibility.

Reynolds said she and State Sen. Hearcel Craig, who also serves on the committee, introduced several state senate bills Wednesday morning based on the committee’s findings.

“As we stand on the cusp of a new era in housing policy, let us reaffirm our commitment to building a future where every individual and family has a place to call home,” Craig said.

State Sen. Louis Blessing said housing is a right and availability comes down to supply and demand, with the first focus needing to be on adding more homes to the market.

“It is indisputable that with respect to supply, if you add more of it, you are going to bring home prices and rents down,” Blessing said.

Senate President Matt Huffman said this is the start of a long road toward curing Ohio’s housing crisis.

“A lot of this should have happened in the last 30 years or so,” he said. “This is not something that’s going to happen in the next two months.”

The committee is hopeful to get the legislative process started before the general assembly breaks in June.