COLUMBUS, Ohio — Over 500 households were forced to leave Colonial Village in Columbus after the city deemed the apartments unsafe. . However, Board Chief Program Effectiveness Officer Steve Skovensky said finding affordable housing in Columbus is challenging and believes it is now a community crisis.
Close to 400 households have transitioned out of hotels that were paid for by the city. June 28 was the last day the city would pay the bills. "It is all hands on deck when it comes to what can we do to make this the safest, the most vibrant and affordable community for everybody," Skovensky said. "This is really unprecedented with the levels of homelessness that we can see in this community right now, but we're, we're always going to do what we can to support the most vulnerable within the extent of the resources that we have. But we want to work directly with everyone that we can and help keep that stability," Skovensky said.
"We need the good work that can happen with the city's planning," Skovenski said."We need the support of the county. We need landlords to step up and say, 'Yes, I want to be part of this effort.' We need landlords that would be interested in shared housing where their units can be divided up. That's a growing movement in the country."