ARTICLE
On Thursday, May 18 the Columbus Apartment Association welcomed over 90 members to the Grange Insurance Audubon Center for the second General Meeting of the year featuring a keynote by Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther. The meeting began with CAA Executive Director Laura Swanson welcoming the members and recognizing all Past Presidents and Hall of Fame members in attendance. CAA President Steve Papineau followed welcoming all the new CAA members and introducing Mayor Ginther. The Mayor began by sharing his excitement to be able to address CAA members, who are on the front lines, of one of the most important things facing the city, housing. He noted that Columbus has had a housing supply problem since before the Great Recession and that problem is being exacerbated today. “One of the things that’s important to me to be able to share with you is why housing matters to me. Housing really isn’t about four walls and a roof,” he said. “My parents fostered for the better part of 30 years, at one point they counted that 47 foster brothers and sisters came through our house. It taught me from an early age about the importance, not just of housing, but of homes. Housing, for me, has always been the foundation. If you believe that great cities are made up of great neighborhoods, great neighborhoods are made up of strong and safe families. Housing is the very bedrock of that.” He emphasized that housing is the great vaccine noting that you can’t move the needle on other society issues until housing is established. Columbus has more growth coming than ever before. It has been gradual growth over the years; however, it isn’t about becoming bigger, it’s also about becoming better, according to the mayor. Between 2009 and 2019 Columbus added 140,000 jobs and 300,000 residents. In that time only 50,000 units of housing were added. That is one house for every 2.5 jobs brought to the region. “This trajectory is not sustainable. If we don’t act now, we’ll be playing catch up for a generation,” Ginther said. “For those of you who do business in other high growth cities you understand the urgency we have to move with before this community becomes a community of the haves, and more and more, the have nots.” He continued by outlining portions of his housing strategy and introducing the audience to Erin Prosser who heads housing strategy for the City of Columbus and working toward a regional solution. Stating that the housing strategy can’t have the full impact and won’t meet the vision unless everyone is part of the solution. He went on to emphasize that Columbus cannot solve the region’s housing challenges, needing the Franklin County suburbs and neighboring counties to step up as well. “We’re calling on the entire region to double the number of units coming to market every year for the next 15 years,” Ginther said. “We’re continuing to support small to medium sized developers while pushing for new, innovative products. We’re making residential construction easier at each phase of the project to support current developers and encourage new developers to join the work. Simply put, we need more housing at every price point.” Adding that the city will continue to diversify the types of housing available throughout the city and region. Ginther acknowledged the task will not be easy and encouraged the region to embrace the change and the growth that’s coming and shape the growth creating housing of all types for everyone. Ginther stressed the need to invest in housing in a substantial way to avoid the consequences that so many other cities have faced. “Change is hard. Someone once told me, people don’t fear change, they fear loss. Our job as a region is to have our neighbors embrace the change, the growth that’s coming. We can put our heads in the sand, we can close our eyes, our ears, we can act like it’s not coming. It’s still coming. So why not embrace it and shape that growth based on our values. Everyone who works in this region should be able to afford to live here too, Ginther stressed.” One of the greatest impacts will be a rewrite of the zoning codes which will be methodically broken down and transformed to serve the needs of a modern, equitable and forward-thinking community. The code will reflect the building and development needs of the 21st century and reflects the goals and vision for the future. “Working together with each and every one of you we can ensure that our future isn’t just one with more people, more jobs, more opportunity, but a place where everybody belongs,” Ginther said. “This city is going to continue to grow for people that were born in other countries and other states, we have the opportunity, but we need to make sure that we are building and investing in places people feel safe, feel comfortable and feel like they’re part of this community.” Ginther ended by thanking the Apartment Association for all the work being done to move the effort forward before taking questions from the audience. The first question asked the Mayor about the stigma of ‘landlord’ and how to overcome the negative connotation. “We have to work on that together, I see you as absolutely vital to the future of this city,” Ginther answered. “I think that’s on all of us. Density has been a dirty word in Central Ohio for a long time and we have to change that. We have to bring people along, they have to understand that we’re not going to become New York City overnight, but we need to do things differently so we can avoid that huge disparities and inequities that happen in cities that refuse to change until it’s too late. This is going to be a challenging decade. We’re a big city becoming a bigger city and it means we’re going to have to change things. One unit per acre is not a good long-term strategy.” He stated that he has had very supportive and cooperative relationships with suburban neighbors until he started to shine a light on the housing problem. Suddenly, they’re a little more uncomfortable, he remarked. Stating that they’re all for housing, just somewhere else. The next question was on the topic of technology and the role Ginther sees technology taking on in the new zoning and housing initiatives. “Did anyone know that we have the largest amount of city owned and driven fiber? Think about that and what we learned during the pandemic one of the great areas of disparities and inequities is affordable, accessible internet. One of the things we’re contemplating with the balance of our American Rescue dollars is leveraging that fiber in a way to make it real and affordable,” Ginther responded. “For seniors, kids, I think there are great opportunities as we rewrite the zoning code to leverage that and so many other things to create new technological assets that we have in the community.” The final questions dealt with affordable housing in the city and the plan to deal with the lowest end of those on the affordable scale and how to create new units for those individuals. “My goal is to invest a billion dollars and double the number of units coming to market every year in the region for the next 15 years. Part of the Intel deal we made with the Governor is that the state would contribute $150 billion dollars towards housing in the region as well. I think the public resource dollars are going to be more geared to lower income, subsidized housing. Our hope is that the private sector is going to be heavily involved in market rate and workforce housing.” Following the mayor’s remarks CAA Public Policy Analyst Steve Gladman came to the podium to address the housing policies proposed by Columbus City Council which differ from the mayor’s approach. Gladman began with an overview of the Federal debt limit and continued with updates on the state budget and other relevant legislation before speaking about city council’s initiatives. A full detail of Columbus City Council Housing Initiatives can be found here. The CAA will continue to work with both the mayor and Council to advocate for the multifamily industry and communicate industry messaging throughout the process. Public Policy Slides - Click Here
On Thursday, May 18 the Columbus Apartment Association welcomed over 90 members to the Grange Insurance Audubon Center for the second General Meeting of the year featuring a keynote by Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther.
The meeting began with CAA Executive Director Laura Swanson welcoming the members and recognizing all Past Presidents and Hall of Fame members in attendance. CAA President Steve Papineau followed welcoming all the new CAA members and introducing Mayor Ginther.
The Mayor began by sharing his excitement to be able to address CAA members, who are on the front lines, of one of the most important things facing the city, housing. He noted that Columbus has had a housing supply problem since before the Great Recession and that problem is being exacerbated today.
“One of the things that’s important to me to be able to share with you is why housing matters to me. Housing really isn’t about four walls and a roof,” he said. “My parents fostered for the better part of 30 years, at one point they counted that 47 foster brothers and sisters came through our house. It taught me from an early age about the importance, not just of housing, but of homes. Housing, for me, has always been the foundation. If you believe that great cities are made up of great neighborhoods, great neighborhoods are made up of strong and safe families. Housing is the very bedrock of that.”
He emphasized that housing is the great vaccine noting that you can’t move the needle on other society issues until housing is established.
Columbus has more growth coming than ever before. It has been gradual growth over the years; however, it isn’t about becoming bigger, it’s also about becoming better, according to the mayor. Between 2009 and 2019 Columbus added 140,000 jobs and 300,000 residents. In that time only 50,000 units of housing were added. That is one house for every 2.5 jobs brought to the region.
“This trajectory is not sustainable. If we don’t act now, we’ll be playing catch up for a generation,” Ginther said. “For those of you who do business in other high growth cities you understand the urgency we have to move with before this community becomes a community of the haves, and more and more, the have nots.”
He continued by outlining portions of his housing strategy and introducing the audience to Erin Prosser who heads housing strategy for the City of Columbus and working toward a regional solution. Stating that the housing strategy can’t have the full impact and won’t meet the vision unless everyone is part of the solution. He went on to emphasize that Columbus cannot solve the region’s housing challenges, needing the Franklin County suburbs and neighboring counties to step up as well.
“We’re calling on the entire region to double the number of units coming to market every year for the next 15 years,” Ginther said. “We’re continuing to support small to medium sized developers while pushing for new, innovative products. We’re making residential construction easier at each phase of the project to support current developers and encourage new developers to join the work. Simply put, we need more housing at every price point.”
Adding that the city will continue to diversify the types of housing available throughout the city and region. Ginther acknowledged the task will not be easy and encouraged the region to embrace the change and the growth that’s coming and shape the growth creating housing of all types for everyone.
Ginther stressed the need to invest in housing in a substantial way to avoid the consequences that so many other cities have faced.
“Change is hard. Someone once told me, people don’t fear change, they fear loss. Our job as a region is to have our neighbors embrace the change, the growth that’s coming. We can put our heads in the sand, we can close our eyes, our ears, we can act like it’s not coming. It’s still coming. So why not embrace it and shape that growth based on our values. Everyone who works in this region should be able to afford to live here too, Ginther stressed.”
One of the greatest impacts will be a rewrite of the zoning codes which will be methodically broken down and transformed to serve the needs of a modern, equitable and forward-thinking community. The code will reflect the building and development needs of the 21st century and reflects the goals and vision for the future.
“Working together with each and every one of you we can ensure that our future isn’t just one with more people, more jobs, more opportunity, but a place where everybody belongs,” Ginther said. “This city is going to continue to grow for people that were born in other countries and other states, we have the opportunity, but we need to make sure that we are building and investing in places people feel safe, feel comfortable and feel like they’re part of this community.”
Ginther ended by thanking the Apartment Association for all the work being done to move the effort forward before taking questions from the audience.
The first question asked the Mayor about the stigma of ‘landlord’ and how to overcome the negative connotation. “We have to work on that together, I see you as absolutely vital to the future of this city,” Ginther answered. “I think that’s on all of us. Density has been a dirty word in Central Ohio for a long time and we have to change that. We have to bring people along, they have to understand that we’re not going to become New York City overnight, but we need to do things differently so we can avoid that huge disparities and inequities that happen in cities that refuse to change until it’s too late. This is going to be a challenging decade. We’re a big city becoming a bigger city and it means we’re going to have to change things. One unit per acre is not a good long-term strategy.”
He stated that he has had very supportive and cooperative relationships with suburban neighbors until he started to shine a light on the housing problem. Suddenly, they’re a little more uncomfortable, he remarked. Stating that they’re all for housing, just somewhere else.
The next question was on the topic of technology and the role Ginther sees technology taking on in the new zoning and housing initiatives. “Did anyone know that we have the largest amount of city owned and driven fiber? Think about that and what we learned during the pandemic one of the great areas of disparities and inequities is affordable, accessible internet. One of the things we’re contemplating with the balance of our American Rescue dollars is leveraging that fiber in a way to make it real and affordable,” Ginther responded. “For seniors, kids, I think there are great opportunities as we rewrite the zoning code to leverage that and so many other things to create new technological assets that we have in the community.”
The final questions dealt with affordable housing in the city and the plan to deal with the lowest end of those on the affordable scale and how to create new units for those individuals. “My goal is to invest a billion dollars and double the number of units coming to market every year in the region for the next 15 years. Part of the Intel deal we made with the Governor is that the state would contribute $150 billion dollars towards housing in the region as well. I think the public resource dollars are going to be more geared to lower income, subsidized housing. Our hope is that the private sector is going to be heavily involved in market rate and workforce housing.”
Following the mayor’s remarks CAA Public Policy Analyst Steve Gladman came to the podium to address the housing policies proposed by Columbus City Council which differ from the mayor’s approach. Gladman began with an overview of the Federal debt limit and continued with updates on the state budget and other relevant legislation before speaking about city council’s initiatives. A full detail of Columbus City Council Housing Initiatives can be found here.
The CAA will continue to work with both the mayor and Council to advocate for the multifamily industry and communicate industry messaging throughout the process.
Public Policy Slides - Click Here