Forum addresses rising cost of housing for seniors

If there was any question whether affordable housing in Columbus is a pressing issue for many seniors, the full house Thursday afternoon at a roundtable in Olde Towne East proved that it is. The discussion, held at the Central Community House and hosted by the Columbus City Council and Age-Friendly Columbus, centered on how continued development in Columbus presents new challenges for seniors who want to remain in their homes as they age.

“We’re not antidevelopment,” said panelist Lela Boykin, who is a Near East Area Commissioner. “We’re pro seniors being able to stay in their homes.” She said developers increasingly are targeting areas where the seniors live, possibly displacing them.

Others on the panel included City Councilman Michael Stinziano; Katie White, director of AgeFriendly Columbus; and state Rep. Hearcel Craig, a Democrat who represents the 26th District.

To underscore the nature of the problem, Stinziano recited a litany of statistics that showed the precarious situation for many Columbus seniors. He said that 13 percent of residents 65 or older live in poverty, a 2.5 increase from 2017, and that 30 percent of senior households have an annual income below $20,000.

The average property tax bill in Columbus in 2017 was $2,370 per $100,000 valuation versus $1,790 in 2007, according to Stinziano, who is trying to unseat Franklin County Auditor Clarence Mingo in the November election. The auditor sets property values, which are used in calculating property tax bills.

And when considering that Social Security benefits haven’t kept up with the rate of inflation and out-ofpocket Medicare costs have risen, Stinziano said the fixed income many seniors live on continues to be stretched thinner.

In particular, Boykin said seniors living in areas experiencing increased interest from developers, such as the Near East Side, face greater challenges.

Both Boykin and an attendee who also said she lived in that neighborhood spoke about receiving calls from people trying to pressure them into selling their homes.

“If you’re someone like me who has invested most of my adult life living in the house, that’s where I live. That’s my community,” she said.

As the discussion moved from identifying problems to creating solutions, property taxes became a focus. Craig suggested repealing an income threshold for the Homestead Exemption, which allows seniors to subtract $25,000 from their home value in their property tax calculation.

To qualify for the program, which saves residents on average $495 per year, one must have an income below $32,200 in 2018 (it adjusts for inflation each year). Since the threshold was added in 2014, Craig said it has had a “serious impact on many of our seniors.”

Another suggestion, initially made by Boykin, was freezing property tax bills for seniors. At least six states and some cities, including Philadelphia, have programs to accomplish that.

“There’s different models out there; we haven’t really sat down and said this is the best one or not,” Stinziano said. “But there’s definitely ways to address what we’ve heard (from attendees) with what some states have done.”

In Ohio, it appears such a freeze would have to be implemented statewide through a constitutional amendment because an item in the state constitution known as the “uniform rule” requires all property to be taxed in the same manner, said Gary Gudmundson, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Taxation.

Mingo told The Dispatch that neither the city of Columbus nor Franklin County would be able to implement a freeze, but said the state should explore ways to give increased tax relief to seniors, veterans and people with disabilities. Especially, he said, because of the tax relief commonly given to developers.

“I believe if these tax incentives are available for economic purposes, then surely there is space for others who are truly in need,” Mingo said.