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Three States Pursue Innovative Programs to Spur Affordable Housing

Representatives from Ohio, Illinois and Massachusetts discussed their states’ efforts to increase affordable housing opportunities. The efforts included a trust fund, a ‘bounty’ given to communities to zone up and a comprehensive plan that included resource allocation.

Ohio: A Trust Fund for a Full Range of Housing Needs

Ohio’s principal program is a trust fund that provides funding for projects that serve low-income families and individuals. According to Ohio’s lieutenant governor, Jennette Bradley, the Ohio Housing Trust Fund (OHTF), established in 1991, funds a full range of housing activities, including predevelopment costs, rental assistance, housing counseling, handicapped accessibility modifications, rehabilitation, home repair and new construction.

During fiscal year 2004, the OHTF provided downpayment assistance to 349 households, built or rehabilitated 2,071 rental units and 154 ownership units, and provided business assistance to 61 businesses.

OHTF was created with $5 million in state funds. Since then, the state’s Affordable Housing Task Force has recommended a mechanism to provide permanent funding with a $50 million cap. As proposed, this would be achieved through an increase in county recordation fees.

Massachusetts: A ‘Bounty’ for Communities That Have ‘Zoned Up’

In an effort to expand the supply of housing, this year Massachusetts signed into law a ‘bounty’ system that enables individual communities to ‘zone up’ in order to provide more housing without reducing the amount of green space in the state, said Douglas Foy, the secretary of commonwealth development. Chapter 40R was signed into law in June and gives communities with approved smart-growth districts a bonus payment of $3,000 for each unit of new housing that receives a building permit.

To help local communities implement 40R, four state agencies — the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs (EOEA), the Executive Office of Transportation and Construction (EOTC) and the Department of Economic Development (DED) — will provide $30,000 in planning services and technical assistance to each local community in the state.

The measure was promoted last year by the Commonwealth Housing Task Force, a private ad hoc organization established to increase the supply of housing in Massachusetts. The task force identified the lack of land zoned for multifamily housing or single-family housing on small lots, rather than an absolute lack of land, as a major constraint upon the production of more housing.

Illinois: A Task Force to Unify Policy Development and Resource Allocation

Illinois is in the process of developing a unified affordable housing policy that would encompass supportive services as well as resource allocation, according to Kelly King Dibble, executive director for the Illinois Housing Development Authority.

Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich issued an executive order in 2003 to develop the comprehensive policy, Dibble said. The governor has created a housing task force from staff from the housing-related state agencies and charged it with developing an annual comprehensive housing plan that would include the development, preservation or rehabilitation of a range of affordable housing options. Dibble said the comprehensive plan has not been completed to date, but that working groups have developed recommendations.

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