COLUMBUS, Ohio – A new report finds foreclosures in Ohio fell to their lowest level last year since 2001, but the state is still feeling the effects of the housing bubble burst.

According to data compiled by the research institute Policy Matters Ohio, foreclosures in 2014 dropped 18 percent from 2013.

However, Zach Schiller, the group’s research director, says the state is not out of the woods yet.

"These foreclosure filings remain at levels that were far higher than what was normal back in the 1990s,” he points out. “So despite the fact that we've seen a major reduction from the crisis levels of five or six years ago, this remains a major issue for Ohio's families."

The report found Ohio foreclosure filings fell to nearly 44,000 last year compared to just over 51,000 in 2013.

Richland County had the highest rate, replacing Cuyahoga County, which had the highest rate for nine years.

Schiller says with funding from the U.S. Treasury Department's Hardest Hit Fund, the Save the Dream program has helped thousands of Ohioans stay in their homes.

But he says the money is almost gone and the program is no longer accepting new applicants.

"We still do have agencies and nonprofits that are providing foreclosure counseling, usually though without financial relief,” he states. “They don't have the ability to help pay something on the mortgage the way that Save the Dream did. "

But Schiller says more counties are using an alternative process to deal with the number of blighted and abandoned homes left sitting by the foreclosure crisis.

"We're seeing an increasing use of these expedited foreclosures and that's a positive in a sense that at least it makes it more likely that these properties will be used or disposed of more quickly than if they just sit around vacant and unoccupied," he says.

Some $66 million from the Hardest Hit Fund has been pledged to reimburse county land banks in Ohio for buying and removing blighted and vacant homes.

And the state distributed $75 million dollars from a 2012 national mortgage settlement for demolition of abandoned homes.



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Colorado remains the eighth-least affordable state in the nation for housing, according to a new report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

Even as state and municipal minimum wages have increased, up to $18.29 an hour in Denver, Coloradans must earn nearly $38 an hour to afford a modest apartment.

Cathy Alderman, chief communications and public policy officer at the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, said it is clear wages will not be able to keep up with rising housing costs.

"Colorado has a very robust minimum wage compared to the federal minimum wage, and many other states, and we're still falling behind in terms of housing costs," Alderman pointed out. "We have to think about policies that can bring the cost of housing down."

A full-time worker earning the state's minimum wage can only afford to pay $750 a month in rent. A Social Security recipient can only afford to pay $294. Boulder, Eagle and Summit counties top the list of the most expensive areas in Colorado, where service and other low-wage workers have to travel for hours each day because they cannot afford to live where they work.

Thousands of new housing units have been popping up along the Front Range for years but are offered at price points better suited for hedge funds and other investors than average working families. Alderman argued the housing crisis will not be resolved by market forces alone.

"In the Denver metro area, we have more than 20,000 units of luxury and market-rate housing sitting vacant because people can't afford it," Alderman observed. "There is no incentive to lower the rent to make it accessible."

The federal government stopped investing in housing decades ago, but the "Housing Crisis Response Act" working its way through Congress aims to create nearly 1.4 million affordable homes and help nearly 300,000 households afford their rent.

Alderman believes the federal government, which can tap many more revenue sources than state and local governments, needs to play a role.

"State and local governments have been trying to invest more in housing," Alderman acknowledged. "But if they can't leverage federal dollars, they just can't get very far. And so I think it's time for the federal government to see this as a nationwide crisis, not just as a local crisis."

New Mexico advocacy groups are calling on New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to cancel next week's special session where lawmakers are scheduled to debate public safety legislation. The coalition, which includes progressive-leaning groups that support the governor on many issues, wants community experts consulted before laws are passed.

Marshall Martinez, Equality New Mexico's executive director, said the proposals on next week's agenda are rushed - and would present complicated policy changes to behavioral healthcare, addiction treatment and homelessness.

"We're talking about the ability of the state to force someone into an inpatient treatment center without their consent, and we're talking about things like criminalizing panhandling," Martinez said.

In addition to Equality New Mexico, the coalition that sent a letter to the governor on Tuesday includes the ACLU of New Mexico, the Center for Civic Policy, Common Cause New Mexico and the New Mexico Conference of Churches. On Wednesday, a spokesperson for the Governor said calling off the special session is not an option.

Martinez believes advice from community experts who provide mental health and other public safety-related services should have been sought by the governor's office prior to the session being scheduled to ensure legislation provides lasting solutions.

"You have to come to the table with community-based organizations, like those of us who've been working on these issues for years, and engage us in a conversation about what will work," he continued. "Good policy isn't made in a vacuum on the 4th floor of the State Capitol building."

He also noted an obvious lack of consensus between Democratic and Republican lawmakers on the legislative proposals, and said the short session does not include opportunities for community feedback.

By Nathan Treece for Little Rock Public Radio.
Broadcast version by Freda Ross for Arkansas News Service reporting for the Little Rock Public Radio-Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation-Public News Service Collaboration.

Pulaski County officials broke ground mid-May on a new project that aims to provide permanent housing for people experiencing chronic homelessness.

Providence Park is inspired by the Community First Village of Austin, Texas, and when complete, will include 400 tiny homes with full support services to improve both resident health and quality of life.

Errin Stanger, founder and CEO of Providence Park, has been working with the unhoused community of central Arkansas for several years. She says she was inspired to search for more permanent solutions to the problem.

"That led me to look at the nation and also do an international study, and so I spent a few years trying to find something that I thought might be wonderful to bring to Arkansas, and that's when I found Community First in Texas," said Stanger. "I wanted to do a better job taking care of our chronically homeless individuals, so I just started the research, and here we are today."

The community will have full wrap-around services, starting with a medical, mental, and dental health facility.

"We'll also have a huge community garden. We will have a fabrication lab-type building so all of our neighbors can make and create inside. They are kind of modeled after the [Arkansas Regional] Innovation Hub, which is my previous place of employment. I used to be the director there." Stanger added, "It's important to bring arts into their lives as well, so really, full wrap-around services to get them back on their feet and feeling good again"

Providence Park will be located behind the Iron Horse Church on Chicot Road in southwest Little Rock. Stanger says they are partnering with Rock Region Metro to plan a dedicated bus stop for the village.

One in every three households in Arkansas can be considered ALICE, defined by nonprofit alliance United Way as asset limited, income constrained, and employed.

Stanger says she hopes to open the doors in the first quarter of 2025.


Nathan Treece wrote this article for Little Rock Public Radio.


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