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12/12/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 12/12/2024 10:33

Ohio State faculty, industry experts offer affordable housing solutions

Ohio State faculty and national industry experts offered solutions on how to solve the nation's affordable housing crisis.
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12
December
2024
|
11:30 AM
America/New_York

Ohio State faculty, industry experts offer affordable housing solutions

Speaker series focuses on responding to local, national housing crisis

Chris Bournea
Ohio State News

Though affordable homes and rental units are in short supply in Columbus and many cities across the country, there are a number of strategies that can make housing more accessible, according to industry experts who shared insights during a speaker series presented this fall by The Ohio State University's Center for Urban and Regional Analysis(CURA).

The series, "Responding to the Housing Crisis," co-presented with the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC), featured Ohio State faculty and staff as well as local and national practitioners discussing housing and its impact on communities.

"CURA and MORPC share similar goals - we are both committed to building more sustainable communities in central Ohio," said CURA Director and Professor Harvey Miller. "Our autumn webinar series on 'Responding to the Housing Crisis' is part of that commitment: We are highlighting voices that have valuable experiences and solutions for addressing the dire housing crisis we are facing in Columbus - and indeed the entire U.S."

The series concluded with a Dec. 6 session addressing "The State of Housing in Central Ohio." The panel discussion featured Jason Reece, Ohio State's vice provost for urban research and community engagement; Carlie Boos, executive director, Affordable Housing Alliance of Central Ohio; Lark Mallory, founder, Mallory Economic Development Advisors; and Amy Riegel, executive director, Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio.

Not enough housing units are being built each year to accommodate central Ohio's growing population, the panelists said. Another major issue is that some landlords maintain policies that create barriers for prospective tenants, Reece said.

"That's incredibly challenging if you're lower income, if your income is in any way erratic, if you've got an eviction on your record," he said. "We're recognizing that we have a whole array of other barriers that keep people in unstable housing."

Evictions and criminal records - even those that occurred long ago - can make it difficult to rent property, Riegel said.

"If you committed a crime when you were 18 years old, is that still being used against you when you're 42 years old and looking for a unit?" she said. "We do have barriers that make it very difficult, but these aren't barriers that have to be there. They're barriers that we choose to put in place, and we can choose to take them away."

Creating more affordable housing will require a regional approach in which municipalities throughout central Ohio streamline zoning ordinances to facilitate the construction of units of various sizes, the panelists said.

"As a home-rule state, local governments have tremendous autonomy over what can get built in their communities," Reece said. "At the state level, we do need to start thinking about how to ensure that communities are not blocking housing production, incurring self-inflicted wounds through their land-use policies."

Stepping up the construction of starter homes and alternative dwellings is another strategy to increase the housing supply, Charles Marohn, a nationally recognized civil engineer and land use planner, said during CURA's Nov. 15 session.

Marohn proposed simplifying the permitting process to enable developers to build 500- to 600-square-foot units. Accessory units could be added to existing houses, such as an extra bedroom with an external door or a small backyard cottage that could be rented out.

"We need a development strategy where every neighborhood can add housing all the time," he said, "where single-family homes can become duplexes and triplexes, where we can build backyard cottages with ease."

Solving the housing crisis will require collaboration between the public and private sectors, the speakers said.

"I'm a big proponent of home ownership, whether it's single-family, multifamily, however you're doing it. It does create an embedded sense of security for folks, and you do have that wealth-building opportunity," Reece said. "It's about working within the system to make sure that we are being deliberate in creating those wealth-building opportunities for folks who really could benefit the most."

For information about upcoming CURA events, visit the organization's website.

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12
,
| 08:00 AM America/New_York

Researchers have found evidence that living in areas prone to wildfire smoke may negatively impact an individual's life expectancy.

In many parts of the contiguous United States, wildfires are rapidly growing more intense,endangering the humans and wildlifethat live in the region. Even once fires are doused, serious health risks remain because of the many adverse effects caused by wildfire smoke and the airborne pollution that the blaze releases into the atmosphere.

Now, scientists at The Ohio State University have found that not only is wildfire smoke linked to a shortened lifespan, it also greatly diminishes the positive health impacts of local greenspaces, like forests or parks.

"When considering the environment's effect on human life expectancy, we have to account for all kinds of factors," said Yanni Cao,lead author of the study and a postdoctoral researcher in environmental health services at Ohio State."Forests, for example, provide essential ecosystem services to mitigate the impact of wildfire smoke because they can purify the air."

Generally, greenspaces benefit human health by helping to regulate the local ecosystem and climate through capturing carbon dioxide, oxygen production and air filtration as well as by providing open spaces to foster social and community connection. It's why higher levels of greenspaces are usually correlated with higher life expectancies.

But because these lush areas can essentially act as fuel for wildfires, their presence is also tightly correlated with higher wildfire smoke emissions, said Cao. Due to its high toxicity, human exposure to this smoke has been known to cause respiratory issues, cardiovascular disease, and an increase in the risk of dementiaand hospitalization.

The researchwas presented this week at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union.

To better understand the complex role these factors play in determining the average number of years an individual might live, researchers analyzed more than 66,000 pieces of U.S. census data collected between 2010 and 2015.

Their findings concluded that for every additional day of smoke exposure, a person's life expectancy could be expected to decrease by about 0.02 years - or about one week.

Conversely, living in a green neighborhood can be beneficial, as even a 1% increase in these spaces can lead to a slight life expectancy increase. While wildfire smoke can negate the benefits of greenspace, the team's results suggest that sociodemographic factors such as income, population density, age and race also significantly impact future life expectancies.

"Families with higher average household income have better living conditions, more comprehensive nutritional intake, and tend to have better sanitary conditions and living habits," said Cao. Widespread inequality for minorities means they are less likely to have those protective factors.

People living in areas with extensive greenspaces should carefully consider appropriate health protection measures if they are exposed to wildfire smoke, said Jianyong Wu, co-author of the study and an assistant professor in environmental health sciences at Ohio State.

"Our findings contribute to a deeper understanding of how environmental factors influence public health," he said. "We want our research to offer valuable guidance for future urban planning and public health policies that are aimed at improving life expectancy across the country."

Although this study focuses on the U.S. as a whole, researchers note that future work will aim to discover if wildfires have a similar effect on adult and child mortality in regions like Ohio, where the populace often deals with other kinds of environmental extremes, like drought.

"The goal of this work is to raise awareness about the health impacts of wildfire," said Cao. "To do that,we need to enhance risk communication with the public and further strengthen research on the effects of these disasters."

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