Senate tries to fi ll expanding hole

State tax revenues continued to tank in April, but it does not yet mean things are getting worse for state lawmakers, who already know they have to fix an $800 million hole in the new two-year budget.

Senators on Wednesday were skeptical of the House’s math, which determined that the chamber took care of $632 million worth of that shortfall before passing the budget bill Tuesday.

“That $632 million, is it real?” asked Sen. Matt Dolan, R-Chagrin Falls.

Well, the math is real, state Budget Director Tim

The “WARNING” placard slapped on the front window is a constant reminder of the lead hazard in John Cottrill’s Hilltop rental, but lead is among the least of his worries these days.

Laid up after a nasty tumble from a ladder on a painting job, he has broken bones and looming bills to deal with. Money from the unfinished painting job had been earmarked for his rent.

“I’m usually the bread-winner. I’ve got my wife holding us together,” he said Wednesday.

In March, The Dispatch ran “Dividing Lines,” a three-part series that revealed income disparities in Columbus neighborhoods and suburbs. Reporters Rita Price, Mark Ferenchik, and Jim Weiker followed up on the series Sunday with a story that examined a similar divide in the area’s housing.

They found that while rents in Columbus remain

lower than in many other large U.S. cities, the average rent of a Columbus-area apartment is forecast to rise 4.2 percent this year to $898 a month, after similar percentage gains in the past two years. The average Downtown rent is nearly $1,300.

Those rent averages fall right in line with a proposed $50 million, 230-unit mixed-use development on the site of the former RiversideBradley public housing complex in Franklinton. The developer has promised that 50 of the units will be “workforce housing,” or affordable to people near or just above median area income.

But that would be based on formulas that include income levels not just in Franklinton but a wider area of Downtown, meaning rents could range from

$993 for a studio to $1,915 for a two-bedroom apartment.

At the same time, local and state health officials have posted orders that 51 Columbus homes, many of them rentals and some less than a mile from the Franklinton development site, must be vacated because they are “unsafe for human habitation.” Ten of the addresses house children, who along with pregnant women are most at risk for lead poisoning.

Lofts for a thousand bucks a month within walking distance of children at risk of lead poisoning. There lies the great divide.

Jose Rodriguez, spokesman for Columbus Public Health, said health officials are alerted when patients, typically children, are found with high levels of lead in their blood. The health department steps in to ensure that those children are in safe living conditions and to provide support

and resources for their families.

The city attorney’s office reviews the cases in which owners have been noncompliant to determine the best course of action, legal or otherwise.

“At the end of the day, we want the property to be fixed so that no one else is at risk,” Rodriguez said. “We want to make sure the child gets better.”

Recognizing that ousting poor tenants from homes might lead them to even more dire living conditions, the city offers support where it can for moving and other expenses.

“You have concerns for these families,” Rodriguez said. “Are they going to be homeless? That’s the reality many of these families face, so these are tough decisions.”

He noted that while more kids were tested for lead in Columbus in 2014 and 2015 than in Cleveland or Cincinnati, Columbus had

fewer children who had lead levels high enough to require enforcement.

The National Center for Healthy Housing calls lead poisoning “a concrete expression of the affordable housing crisis; it is more common among poor children, children of color and those living in older housing.”

Lead poisoning, then, is a symptom. An illustration of a widening gulf between the haves and have-nots.

As for Cottrill, he isn’t especially worried about the lead risk. There are no kids living in his home and his wife isn’t pregnant. He is far more concerned about covering their $500 rent and his rising medical expenses.

He didn’t expect they’d be licking the walls, but then he smiled and added a grim qualifier:

“Depends on how hungry we get.”