The South Side Renaissance Fund is a $20 million loan fund that will be used for the financing of community development projects and the acquisition, construction and permanent financing of 170 units of affordable single and multifamily rental housing.
GOPC Sponsors Table at OARC Gubernatorial Forum; Cordray, DeWine Address GOPC’s Policy Priorities
Earlier this month, GOPC was a table sponsor at the Gubernatorial Forum hosted by the The Ohio Association of Regional Councils (OARC). Speaking to a roomful of the state’s top political, business, and civic leaders, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine and former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray shared their campaign platforms related to transportation, infrastructure, job creation, and economic development.
Opportunity Zones Update: Zone Certification Complete, IRS/Treasury to Issue Next Steps
Ohio’s Affordable Housing Advocates Share Latest Local Initiatives at Second Learning Exchange
This past April, Greater Ohio Policy Center (GOPC) convened a second statewide affordable housing learning exchange at the Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA) offices. Affordable housing practitioners and advocates from Columbus, Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Toledo discussed local housing challenges and identified successful initiatives to build on.
Ohio House Introduces Bill on Forfeited Land Sales (HB598)
Media Coverage of $180 Million and Growing: The Economic Impacts of the Land Banks
Last month, Greater Ohio Policy Center released a report documenting the economic impacts that the City of Columbus and Franklin County land banks had on the local economy. These economic impacts include:
- $90 million in protected home values from demolition of nearby blighted structures
- $7.8 million in direct land sales
- $442,000 in property taxes collected from former land bank properties in 2017 alone
- $80 million in new private and non-profit investment on vacant lots or blighted, abandoned structures
- $3.3 million in grants and loans awarded to local non-profit partners
The collaboration between the City of Columbus and COCIC has served to jump-start real estate activity in some of Central Ohio’s most disinvested housing markets and after more than 1,600 demolitions in the past five years, the land banks have successfully dealt with the worst of the worst properties. Today, the land banks are strategically pivoting to address properties farther up the blight pipeline through rehabilitation and blight prevention.
Below is a wrap-up of the media coverage this report has generated:
Land Banks in Central Ohio Restore Nearly 1,300 Properties in 5 Years
Non Profit Quarterly 4/3/2018 Reporter Steve Dubb
Group says land banks are boosting local economy
Columbus Dispatch - 4/2/2018 Reporter Mark Ferenchik
Columbus-Franklin County land banks report $180M in economic impact
Columbus Business First - 3/20/2018 Reporter Carrie Ghose
New GOPC report finds City of Columbus and Franklin County Land Banks Significantly Impact Local Economies
Affordable housing leaders in Ohio share ideas at GOPC’s Learning Exchange
Greater Ohio Policy Center (GOPC) organized a statewide affordable housing learning exchange at the Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA) offices. The learning exchange brought together practitioners from Columbus, Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Toledo to discuss the current housing affordability challenges in their regions and share policies and practices that seek to address the problem.
