The Housing and Communities work stream will recommend policies, practices, and priorities that are crafted to improve regional housing equity, access, and quality. Such suggestions will include energy-efficient, cost-saving alternatives to traditional solutions. The work stream will also value the individual communities and neighborhoods in northeast Ohio by promoting the growth of a healthy, safe, and walkable region.
In general, Northeast Ohio’s supply of housing exceeds its demand. At the same time, Northeast Ohio has an over-supply of housing that is abandoned and doesn’t have enough housing product to meet the needs of specific populations, such as people with disabilities and elderly residents.
This has often left them isolated in communities with declining tax bases and strained public facilities and social services.
Households spending 45% or more of their income on housing and transportation (H+T) costs, excluding the cost of gasoline, are considered to be living in “unaffordable” locations and are “overburdened” by their housing and transportation costs, according to the H+T Affordability Index.
These disparities are shaped by social, environmental, and economic conditions that affect both the choices available to them and their health outcomes.