Tornadoes are heartbreaking; US response heartening
Tornadoes that swept across the Midwest last week are reminders of the power of nature, fragility of life and how much we need each other.
The wicked winds killed at least 90 people in one of the worst December outbreaks of tornadoes in U.S. history. They hit Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, Mississippi and Tennessee, leaving an unfathomable trail of destruction.
One survivor, a small business owner in Mayfield, Kentucky, told an NPR reporter that he had “lost a lifetime of work in 30 seconds.”
Thousands of people lost everything they owned. They also lost any sense of peace and security in their homes and hometowns.
You’ve seen the photos and the video. Each scene of devastation appears a lot like the others – like the site of a bomb blast, with houses and churches and businesses all left in unrecognizable piles of bricks and splinters pocked with bits of reminders of the people who once inhabited them.
A teddy bear here, a family Bible there. Crushed cars, a twisted heirloom rocker, family portraits going back decades scattered like leaves. A U.S. flag flying awkwardly but proudly in a shredded tree.
Heartbreaking doesn’t begin to express the loss and sorrow.
Heartening is a good word to describe the response from across the country. Volunteers and donations are flooding in.
The Red Cross, Salvation Army, churches, individuals moved to help. They’ve been showing up in the cities and small towns across six states where people are desperately trying to pick up the pieces.
More than 1,000 residents in the area of Mayfield, Kentucky, alone lost their homes in the tornado – at the onset of winter and two weeks before Christmas.
Angela Legat left her Mayfield apartment with no power, heat or water and a dangerous gas leak. She couldn’t afford a hotel, so she went to the shelter and worried about freezing temperatures. Her daughter played on a computer nearby.
She told a reporter from our sister newspaper, the Louisville Courier Journal, that she hasn’t been able to go to work as a medical assistant, fueling her anxiety. Her daughter kept asking her a hard question: “When can we go back to our house?” she said.
It could be a long time. And many of her neighbors will never go back to their homes. They’re gone, wiped away by unimaginably strong winds. Last week, National Weather Service teams were trying to determine whether the tornado – which was on the ground for more than 200 miles – was an EF3 (136-165
The Columbus Conversations series seeks to find solutions to issues of importance to this community.
Can people afford to live here?
NOEL WILLIAMS B.R.E.A.D. VICE PRESIDENT AND CHAIR OF THE FAMILIES 1ST AND HOUSING NOW!
It depends upon where you are socially, economically.
For B.R.E.A.D., we’re not new to this housing issue. In 2017, we heard from many of our congregants that talks about (how) they could not afford safe, decent housing.
When we’re looking at affordable housing, we’re looking at a specific population (whose) income level is $30,000 or less. Those people cannot afford where we are right now in terms of housing.
For that group of people, no, they can not afford to live here. That’s a life and death situation for us all.
NOTE: B.R.E.A.D (Building Responsibility, Equality, and Dignity) is made up of members of several Columbus area congregations.
BRIAN E. HIGGINS PRINCIPAL, ARCH CITY DEVELOPMENT
I think that it’s important to point out that it’s very relative on who you are. You might be able to say, “Hey, I can find affordable housing on my income,” but you have to realize it may not be in your preferred community.
So how do you value that? How do you value school districts?
Do you then decide that you want to become house poor because you want to be in a big school district that performs better academically? That’s a value decision that you can make.
Not every community allows for the creation of affordable housing. In many cases, zoning regulations have been weaponized to ensure that you can only build certain types of housing, and then that forces price points (up) because those construction levels are more expensive to build. That, of course, gets passed on to the user.
We need only look to CMHA to see how many people are on the Section 8 (subsidized housing) waiting list right now: 20,000.
At the very low end of the spectrum, the answer is probably “no,” or there wouldn’t be a waiting list at all for subsidized housing.
ANN BISCHOFF CEO, STAR HOUSE
If you take a look at the National Low Income Housing Coalition website, you will see that in our community, 39% of households are renters and their earning a mean wage of $16.99 (an hour).
If you’re using that 30% indicator (for how much of your wage should go for rent) there, affordable rent is about $833 a month.
I talked to our case managers at Star House who are connecting our young people with housing, and they’re telling me that right now rent for a one-bedroom apartment is anywhere from $825 to $1,065.
However, there are just far too few options at or below that $833 a month level. When they do become available, they’re snatched up like that.
The Affordable Housing Alliance also reported a couple of years ago that for every one unit of affordable housing, there are three low-income renters waiting for that housing.
Even before the pandemic, 54,000 Franklin County families paid more than half of their income for housing.
That’s simply not sustainable. It puts people at risk of homelessness and other issues.
Note: Star House provides safe housing and other services to homeless youth.
JENNIFER NOLL PRINCIPAL PLANNER, MID-OHIO REGIONAL PLANNING
COMMISSION (MORPC) (As the) central regional planning agency, (we) will often hear from folks (who say) central Ohio is still a relatively affordable place to live.
If we’re looking at coastal communities, that may be true. I think what adds urgency to this conversation is the reality that as those communities become less and less affordable, more and more folks are going to be looking to move to areas that are more affordable.
Central Ohio is really an attractive place to be?
You know, we have a lot of jobs. We have great schools. There’s access to health care. Climate is another big consideration driving folks to place like central Ohio.
The reality is, after so many years of sort of unprecedented growth, and not being able to build enough housing to keep up with that growth, we’re going to be sort of adding to the existing housing affordability issues for residents who are already here.
That does start to build upon itself and make our region less affordable if we’re not doing some course correcting.
Are there things that give you hope that solutions will be found?
SIDNEY CHILDS
CHIEF DIVERSITY, INCLUSION, AND EQUITY OFFICER,
COLUMBUS METROPOLITAN HOUSING AUTHORITY
We are on target to offer 500 new units every year for the next five years. That is going to be a significant impact on this issue within our community, within central Ohio. I’m also hopeful because we are having this conversation.
We are talking about this and more people are talking about it. I think as we continue to keep this issue at the forefront, we will continue to bring all these creative, smart individuals to the table to address this problem because we can do that.
Communities are passing anti-income discrimination legislation that make sure (income discrimination) doesn’t happen.
That’s hopeful. If more communities do that, I think we can put a dent into this issue.
I’m encouraged about what may be offered in the Build Back Better legislation. If it moves forward the way we think it might, that will infuse a significant amount of dollars in our community to address this issue.
I’m an eternal optimist. I think we can do this. We’ve got smart and intelligent people who are passionate about this and are committed about providing housing for all.
ERIN J. PROSSER
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF HOUSING STRATEGIES,
CITY OF COLUMBUS
I’m a planner by background, so the zoning code update gives me lots of optimism.
It’s the first time in 70 years there will be a comprehensive look at our zoning code. I think that speaks to our desire and really the initiative to look at our system’s programs, all of the ways in which we impact development across central Ohio, and really modernize it.
And think about how we can look forward into the 21st century and what those systems need to look like to create that equitable housing ecosystem where we have opportunities for families.
The ability for us to take a look at that zoning code is going to be a really impactful process that we all get to go through. Not just the city of Columbus, but the resources we will be bringing to the table and sharing with our partners in the other jurisdictions and regionally.
That’s really going to be a powerful conversation, even though it’s just about zoning.
I think it’s a sign of how we are moving forward into a more modern version of how we manage development and how we grow as a city.
Editorials are The Dispatch Editorial Board’s fact-based assessment of issues of importance to the communities we serve. These are not the opinions of our reporting staff members, who strive for neutrality in their reporting.