The city of Columbus, Ohio –
The arrival of aid has been delayed for many Columbus residents who are already trying to maintain or build a home.
As more people squeeze into smaller housing and juggle several jobs to make ends meet, city officials are describing the situation as a crisis.
NBC4 Investigates investigated the security of some homeless people’s housing situations and the reasons some individuals have to wait years for affordable housing.
According to the Community Shelter Board, Columbus saw a 34% increase in rent between 2017 and 2022. That increase was 29% on a national level. Even worse, although national vacancy rates fell 19%, they fell by almost 100% in Columbus.
Due to these factors, some people are finding it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to locate an inexpensive place to live, and certain programs are seeing their funding cut.
Homeless Amanda King remarked, “I guess I’m just stuck.” She has been homeless for the last decade.
King never imagined she would be staying in a motel for fear of returning to her life in the south Columbus woods a decade ago. Everything changed after she got married and had children.
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It was a major setback that ultimately resulted in their homelessness, King stated.
After her spouse passed away, she was left to fend for herself.
After months of lobbying, she and the program directors of the mutual assistance group Heer to Serve were successful in having 27 individuals who had been living behind a mobile home in south Columbus relocated to a motel with the help of funds provided by the Community Shelter Board.
“It’s a higher cost approach than a traditional shelter, but we know that this is the intervention that works best for people who, you know, don’t want to enter the traditional shelter,” said Steve Skovensky, chief program effectiveness officer of the Community Shelter Board. “The community is facing a severe housing crisis where the amount of available housing is insufficient to meet the demand.”
But it’s not been a picnic.
“Of course, you know, I am so grateful,” King said. “Over the past few months, it’s just been a gradual decline. You’ve got more people, you know, fighting, stealing.”
The city’s code enforcement has visited the motel.
The hotel in question was found to have several zoning violations and site plan issues. One area where exposed wires were found and a violation was subsequently issued, according to Anthony Celebrezze, Deputy Director of Building and Zoning Services in Columbus. “We’re in the business of trying to encourage landowners, and property owners to maintain and take care of their property.”
Exposed wood, lights, and fear about what happens when the motel money runs out.
“You never know from one day to the next if you’re going to have to leave and not have nothing,” another woman NBC4 Investigates spoke with said.
This woman said medical bills cost her everything eight years ago.
“I broke my back,” she said.
She doesn’t want her family to know she’s homeless, so NBC4 agreed to not identify her.
“I lost everything I had,” she said. “I had nowhere to go so that’s where I went.”
CSB gave people in this motel program a list of 20 places to call for affordable housing.
NBC4 Investigates also called every place on the list: one number was disconnected, one was a scam, two were only for people 65 and older, one was not even affordable housing and almost every other we got in touch with had a waitlist at least six months long.
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“What’s the point of putting an application in for two years from now, you know, we did,” the woman who asked to remain anonymous said.
For some, the waitlists were longer than three years.
The motel program is evaluated each month based on funding and people in the program. Many are worried the program will end before they can find a safe place to call home.
“I’m kind of like stuck in limbo because I don’t know whether or not they’re going to let me stay here or they are going to kick me right back out on the streets,” King said.
King is facing an added hurdle: open court cases and a warrant that kept her out of housing programs.
“I’ve jumped through every hoop and hurdle that they had thrown at me,” King said.
King has open court cases relating to drugs. She says she’s gone to treatment and has been clean for a few months, but still can’t get into a housing program.
“I’m still stuck in the same position,” King said.
She says she’s trying, but with Columbus’ housing market only getting more expensive, trying isn’t enough for her or for anyone looking for an affordable place to live.
“It really shouldn’t be this hard for somebody to have a home of their own or to feel safe and live a normal life, and I guess I’m just stuck,” King said.
Columbus City Council and Mayor Andrew Ginther tout affordable housing as a priority for the city.
Ginther has put $104 million in this year’s proposed capital budget, but that’s for the future. Those without a home right now said it’s a hopeless feeling as beds fill up and no immediate solution is in sight.
“We are running out of housing,” Smolensky said. “You know, we see the need growing. We know that homelessness will continue to grow based on those two factors that we talked about with rising rents and lowering vacancy rates. So that’s why we’re committed to expanding housing, whatever means possible.”
