The Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority plans to issue an additional 1,000 housing vouchers over the next year, while 24,000 remain on its wait list for federally subsidized housing.
The housing authority has already issued 12,500 housing vouchers, but the need is much more, as the waiting list shows and housing advocates push for more affordable housing in central Ohio. That doesn’t capture the need for affordable housing, CMHA President and CEO Charles Hillman said.
Carlie Boos, executive director of the Affordable Housing Alliance of Central Ohio, said 1,000 more vouchers can be transformational for those families who might not have any housing without them.
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To gauge the ongoing demand for houses on Columbus South Side, and what people are willing to pay for them in the age of COVID, look no farther than Carpenter Street south of Livingston Avenue.
There you ll find a property that the city of Columbus bought for $17,000 in 2010. The 1,830-square-foot house was renovated then sold through the nonprofit Healthy Neighborhoods Healthy Homes collaborative, going for $132,000 in 2013, $250,000 in 2018 and $330,000 in 2020.
A little farther north, Mayra Castillo bought her house that the Healthy Homes collaborative once renovated for $260,500 in 2020. Eleven years before that, it sold for $92,500. The city land bank bought it for $19,500 in 2008.