Despite the outcry from advocates throughout the state, the Ohio House recently passed it’s version of the biennial budget that would effectively eliminate the Ohio Housing Trust Fund – the primary source of state funding for local homelessness and affordable housing programs.

Now the Senate is deliberating on the biennial budget bill (HB 96) and the future of the Trust Fund. Please take a moment now to contact members of the Senate Finance Committee and urge them to protect the Ohio Housing Trust Fund! We are asking the legislature to remove the House’s amendment and create a study committee to thoroughly evaluate the OHTF and make recommendations for improvement.

The Senate will make it’s budget revisions in a substitute bill to be released in late May or early June. This is our best chance to block the House’s damaging proposal, so contact your senators now! In addition to your state senator (find my legislator), please contact Senate President Rob McColley (614-466-8150), Senate Finance Chair Jerry Cirino (614-644-7718); Vice Chair Brian Chavez (614-466-6508). You might speak with the senators’ staff or have to leave a voicemail, but these contacts do make a difference!

Talking Points: Here are some basic facts to highlight in your communications with legislators. For more specific talking points on homeless services, affordable housing development, and emergency home repair, download here.

  • The Ohio Housing Trust Fund is the primary source of state funding for local homelessness, emergency home repair, and affordable housing programs.
  • The House inserted an amendment into the state budget (HB 96) that would forfeit state oversight of the Housing Trust Fund, creating more bureaucracy and inefficiency at the county level.
  • Currently, the State administers the Ohio Housing Trust Fund to maximize resources for housing and homelessness services in all 88 counties. The House’s amendment would disrupt services and decrease overall housing resources in areas with the highest needs.
  • Overhauling the Ohio Housing Trust Fund is a drastic change that will lead to less affordable housing and increased homelessness.
  • We are asking the Senate to include Sen. Michelle Reynolds’ amendment (SC1326) in the sub bill to replace the House’s proposal with a committee to study the OHTF and recommend improvements..

If your agency uses OHTF, be sure to explain how it helps you fight homelessness, keep seniors and Ohioans with disabilities safely housed, and expand affordable housing in their districts.

Background: The House’s surprise, unvetted budget amendment would forfeit State oversight of the OHTF and create great uncertainty for future funding for local housing and homeless services by creating new levels of bureaucracy in each of Ohio’s 88 counties. Cloaked in the guise of “local control,” this amendment would diminish overall funding for local homelessness, home repair, and affordable housing programs, especially in Ohio’s rural areas that rely on multi-county awards from the OHTF. The county-by-county approach would siphon resources away from people who need help getting housed to administrative costs because running 88 small housing programs is much more expensive and inefficient than running one large one at the state level. The House’s amendment would accelerate the depopulation of rural Ohio’s communities, pushing even more Ohioans into urban and suburban areas, increasing demand for already scarce affordable housing.

The Ohio Department of Development and the Ohio Housing Finance Agency use OHTF funds for a variety of different programs. If your agency receives funding from these sources, it likely includes OHTF dollars:

  • Homeless Crisis Response Program (HCRP)
  • Supportive Housing Program
  • Housing Assistance Grant Program (HAGP)
  • Community Housing Impact and Preservation Program (CHIP)
  • Housing Development Assistance Program (HDAP)
  • Resident Services Coordinator Program

See COHHIO’s OHTF web page for more information about how the Housing Trust Fund supports local homelessness, home repair, and affordable housing initiatives in communities throughout Ohio. And please contact Advocacy and Policy Coordinator Elizabeth Marti​ndale if you have any questions about contacting your member, and any updates you may have after speaking with them.

Thank you,

The COHHIO Team