OHFA 2022 Second Quarter Agency at a Glance

OHFA UPDATE - PAGE 4 - 2022 SECOND QUARTER Office of Research and Analytics In May, the Office of Research and Analytics welcomed an amazing summer intern to the team! Also in May, Devin Keithley published a DataByte to OHFA’s Stories of Home blog to raise awareness about the affordability gap for Ohio’s extremely low-income renters. To summarize, in 2020 there were only 189,172 rental units in Ohio that were both affordable and available to the state's 443,717 extremely low- income (ELI) renter households – or 43 units for every 100 ELI renters. This data underscores the critical need for large-scale and sustained public investment in affordable multifamily housing to help close this gap. In June, the Office wrapped up the Annual Planning process with the approval by the OHFA Board of the Fiscal Year 2022-23 Annual Plan . This updated plan is a roadmap to guide the agency in producing affordable rental housing, developing and strengthening partnerships, and communicating the impact of and need for housing that low- and moderate-income Ohioans can afford. The priorities and strategies within the plan are based upon data, evidence-based practices, and public and stakeholder input. Last but not least, the Office of Research and Analytics has been working diligently to support the Save the Dream Ohio program with research and data analysis, developing internal systems using Tableau that visualize program data and perform automatic calculations for Treasury reporting. These tools help OHFA leadership and the Save the Dream staff better understand the data so they may make informed policy decisions and more effectively target areas of the state where homeowners have been impacted by the pandemic. CHELSEA BUCKWALTER DIRECTOR OF HOUSING POLICY Sarah Stouffer-Lerch is an Ohio Education Research Center (OERC) intern and expects to graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Public Policy Analysis from The Ohio State University next spring. She has spent the summer supporting the Save the Dream Ohio (SDO) program by creating analytic tools and data visualizations to help inform policy decisions. DATABYTE: CLOSING OHIO’S AFFORDABILITY GAP FOR EXTREMELY LOW-INCOME RENTERS OHIO HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY BY DEVIN KEITHLEY A new report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition highlights a supply shortage of housing units that are affordable and available to renters at the lowest income levels. Here in Ohio, there were only 189,172 rental units in 2020 that were both affordable and available to the state’s 443,717 extremely low-income (ELI) renter households*—or 43 units for every 100 ELI renters—leaving a deficit of 254,545 units. The affordable housing gap for ELI renters in Ohio has been shrinking, but at a very slow pace. Since 2015 there has been a net deficit reduction of 14,838 ELI units. Although new affordable housing can be created or existing affordable units made available to ELI renters, this is typically countered by the loss of affordable housing due to dereliction, rent increases, or occupation by households at higher income levels. At this net rate, it would take Ohio 86 years to close the affordable housing gap for ELI renters. Ohio’s ratio of 43 affordable and available units to every 100 ELI renters is less severe than the national ratio (36/100), with thirty states having a smaller supply than Ohio relative to their number of ELI renter households. The private market alone cannot meet this demand, especially as the number of ELI renters continues to grow and developers continue to face new challenges, such as the recent rising cost of building materials. Large-scale and sustained public investment—through programs such as the Housing Tax Credit, the Ohio Housing Trust Fund, and the Housing Choice Voucher—is critical. Furthermore, pending legislation at the state and federal levels providing additional resources for affordable multifamily housing would create other important pathways to overcoming these challenges and closing the affordable housing gap. Questions? Contact the Office of Research and Analytics at research@ohiohome.org * ELI is defined as those with incomes at or below the federal poverty level or 30% of area median income, whichever is greater. Affordability is based on the common standard that households should not spend more than 30% of their income on housing. Rental units are both “affordable and available” to renters in a specific income group if the gross rent meets the 30% affordability threshold and they are either available for rent or occupied by households with incomes at or below the defined income level. Source: The Gap: A Shortage of Affordable Homes, April 2022 , National Low Income Housing Coalition (based on the 2020 American Community Survey Public Use Microdata Sample File) Deficit of Rental Units Affordable and Available to ELI Renters (in Thousands) 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 -300 -250 -200 -150 -100 -50 0 −262,612 −248,709 For every 100 ELI renters in Ohio, there are only 43 units that are both affordable and available to them. Ohio's affordability ratio of 43 units per 100 ELI renters is less severe than the national ratio (36/100). In 2020 there was a deficit in Ohio of 254,545 units affordable and available to ELI renters, a net deficit reduction of 14,838 units since 2015. At this rate, it would take 86 years to close the gap. −256,875 −252,027 −254,545 −269,383 DATABYTE