No decisions have been made about field office locations as of this week, a HUD spokesperson said. Ohio is home to field offices in Columbus and Cleveland — these two offices carry out multiple tasks related to housing, including processing mortgage insurance applications, underwriting mortgage loans, addressing fair housing claims and distributing federal funds.
Coalition on Housing and Homelessness in Ohio communications and development director Marcus Roth said the move to reduce housing staff and consolidate field offices seems “wrong-headed” during a housing crisis.
“When you don’t have enough people on the ground to actually implement the laws that Congress has passed, they become essentially broken promises,” Roth said. “We’re not saying that HUD does everything perfectly, but recklessly gutting the agency is really going to harm a lot of Ohioans who are struggling to keep a roof over their heads.”
In a letter to HUD Sec. Scott Turner, Ohio congressional Democrats recently said that closing or downsizing HUD field offices in Ohio would “harm vulnerable populations.”
U.S. representatives included in the letter are former Daytonian Rep. Joyce Beatty, of Columbus; and Rep. Greg Landsman, of Cincinnati, whose district includes Warren County.
According to a press release from Beatty’s office, more than 422,000 Ohioans — 71% of whom are seniors, children, or people with disabilities — rely on federal rental assistance to afford housing.
“At a time when the cost of housing continues to rise, homelessness has reached historic levels, and communities face increasing economic uncertainty, HUD must remain a fully staffed and functioning agency,” the letter says.
According to the letter, HUD’s Columbus field office — which serves the Dayton area — had lost a dozen of its staff members in March, with another five employees announcing their retirement.
“The Administration’s staffing reductions and office closures not only undermine HUD’s ability to enforce fair housing policies, respond to local housing crises, and administer critical programs, but also place undue strain on the remaining workforce,” the letter says.
National reports say the only six field offices that would be left open are those in Anchorage, Alaska; Greensboro, North Carolina; Honolulu; Jacksonville, Florida; Los Angeles; and San Juan, Puerto Rico.
But under federal law, there are requirements for at least one field office existing in each state. Ohio representatives included in the letter called on HUD to follow statutory rules for the agency.
The National Low Income Housing Coalition reports that Ohio faces a shortage of more than 264,000 rental homes that are affordable and available to extremely low-income families.
According to the Coalition on Housing and Homelessness in Ohio, average rent increased by 20% across the state in 2021 and 2022, the early pandemic years. Homelessness overall has increased in Ohio by 10% since January 2020, according to the organization.
Roth said the cost of rent in Ohio has slowed down in the past couple years, but Ohio’s rent decreases have come much more slowly than other Midwestern states.
“The last you want to do when you have increasing homelessness and rising rents is take your foot off the gas of the programs that actually help to try to close the gap for people,” Roth said. “We should be beefing up these programs, increasing the amount of resources that can be used to develop affordable housing.”
About the Author
