WOSU is reporting on the feasibility of policy ideas being floated by the three candidates for Columbus City Council at recent forums. The third story is on Kate Curry-Da-Souza's proposal for addressing vacant homes in Columbus.
Columbus City Council candidate Kate Curry-Da-Souza, a former chair of the Near East Area Commission, says the city should do more to bring thousands of vacant homes and properties back onto the market across the city.
Each of the three Columbus City Council candidates for the District 7 seat are bringing new policy ideas to the campaign trail. Curry-Da-Souza's proposal could aid in increasing the city's housing stock as the region experiences a housing crisis due to rapid growth.
Curry-Da-Souza first brought up the proposal at a February candidate forum and again at a March 19 forum at Goodale Park for the Franklin County Democratic Party. She is running against Assistant City Attorney Tiara Ross and immigration attorney Jesse Vogel.
"We have to think about some new ways to think about how we deal with housing," Curry-Da-Souza said. "We are waiting right now for the registry for vacant homes... but where are the vacant homes that are in Columbus that could be rehabbed, and we could be getting those back online? Because those come online a lot faster than brand new projects."
Curry-Da-Souza was alluding to a registry of vacant homes that the Columbus City Council authorized the creation of last year. Columbus Building and Zoning Services Deputy Director Tony Celebrezze told WOSU that list is expected to be released in June or July.
Kate Curry-Da-Souza told WOSU in an interview she admits bringing a vacant home up to code and back on the market is a complicated process, but it is often times faster than building a new structure.
Curry-Da-Souza said she'd like to create a fee that could motivate the owners of vacant homes to put them back online as a housing option. She said if that doesn't work, the city could explore other options like purchasing and reselling the property.
She proposed a one-year time limit before that fee goes into place. But, she said she would want to focus on homes owned by private equity firms or other companies or corporations, not ones passed down through family.
Curry-Da-Souza said this fee would cover city costs, but also benefit the community by encouraging these existing structures to be used.
"It also puts the onus back on the owners to make sure that they're doing the right things by our neighborhoods. And I think that that's really important," Curry-Da-Souza said.
Curry-Da-Souza ruled out using eminent domain to do this, pointing out the policy's racist history used to redline Columbus and separate residents.
Celebrezze said right now the city focuses on making sure the properties are up to code and maintained. He said the city takes the property owners to court only if they fall out of compliance with city code.
"If that person continues to refuse to do any work and not comply, the court can appoint a receiver who would go in and maintain the property long enough to sell it off," Celebrezze said.
Celebrezze said the large Latitude Five25 and Colonial Village apartment complexes are examples of this process being used.
The Columbus and Franklin County land banks often do buy up properties to be redeveloped or made into affordable housing projects.
Curry-Da-Souza said when AirBnB short term rentals are added to the pile of homes that are not used to house residents of Columbus, then there are thousands of these types of homes.
"If you're adding those two numbers, well, that's either 4,000 or more houses that were apartments of some sort of residences... that we could be looking at putting online for people to be living in," Curry-Da-Souza said. "And so, no, that does not solve the housing crisis, period, but it is a piece of the solution, right?"
Curry-Da-Souza said she would like to limit homes being converted to short-term rentals.
Columbus, like many other rapidly growing cities in central Ohio and the country are trying to address a growing shortage of homes that many deem a "housing crisis." She said her proposal could help alleviate the pressure, but was clear it was not a total solution to the crisis.
Celebrezze said that list is expected to show 1,500 vacant properties — not just homes — out of 330,000 parcels across the city.
Curry-Da-Souza believes that may be a vast undercount of the reality.
"When you think about your neighborhood, I just think about even the one that I live in, there have been a number of homes that weren't tagged. They weren't on city codes. They were not on their radar because they were mowed enough to not be a code violation, but they weren't occupied," Curry-Da-Souza said.
