COLUMBUS, Ohio — To help combat the affordable housing crisis, Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther said he wants to allocate more than $100 million toward it in the 2025 proposed city budget.

What You Need To Know

  • Ohioans face an affordable housing crisis 
  • Eviction rates in Franklin County are skyrocketing 
  • Single, Black moms and the elderly have the highest eviction rates 

But with eviction rates skyrocketing, some are saying there’s still more that needs to be done. There are two specialists who are working toward finding people affordable homes and keeping them in it. 

Affordable housing is a crisis Ohioans continue to face daily.

“Double-digit increases in rents across the state have now led to more persons being housing unstable or not being able to afford quality housing,” said Leah Evans, president of Homeport.

Homeport is a nonprofit that’s working toward lowering housing costs across the state. 

“We’re all across the spectrum looking at housing, that includes home ownership, that includes rental,” Evans said.  

Marcus Salter is a housing instability specialist. He’s made it his personal mission to help those struggling with housing firsthand. 

“Columbus, before the end of the year, we’ll probably be around 25,000 eviction filings,” said Salter.

Salter said there are two groups that have the highest eviction rates, and those are single, Black moms and the elderly. 

“A lot of ‘em are on fixed income. New ownership is coming in town, buying out properties, and then the first notice they receive is a $100 rent increase so for folks on low-income with very little support, that is difficult for them to manage,” Salter said.

Salter said his goal is to help people before it’s too late, and get ahead of the problem, which he calls “early intervention.” He’ll attend life skills workshops at shelters or other financial literacy programs. 

“We see such a great need. We have folks call here on a daily basis who you can kind of hear that fear in their voice of, ‘what’s next?’” Salter said.

And Salter said his work is rewarding. 

“You can go through a lot of communities and see people may have been set out, may have been evicted, so that fear, just trying to help them overcome that fear,” Salter said.

Both Salter and Evans said they want to see change in policy at the state level,  =designing homes that are inclusive for all. 

“We want to make sure that politicians and are decision makers look at and understand that some implementation of some affordable housing is a must at this point,” Salter said.