OHIO BUDGET Advocate seeks funding change

The Housing Trust Fund helps develop affordable apartments and housing.
By JEFF ORTEGA
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
COLUMBUS -- An advocate for low-income housing programs says he's hopeful the Ohio Senate revives a proposal to increase fees paid at county recorders' offices to fund the state's Housing Trust Fund.
The proposal had been in Republican Gov. Bob Taft's two-year budget proposal, but House Republicans stripped it from the two-year, $48.7 billion budget the House passed earlier this month.
Instead, the House-passed spending plan provides money for the trust fund through the state's main operating budget, something that Bill Faith, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio, said won't provide stability for housing-assistance programs.
"We want a dedicated funding source," Faith said.
Trust fund history
The Legislature created the Ohio Housing Trust Fund in 1991 after voters approved a state constitutional amendment that made housing a public purpose.
It helps develop affordable apartments and housing throughout the state as well as provide other housing assistance to low-income residents.
In the current two-year state budget that ends June 30, the housing trust fund received $22 million annually, but budget cuts have reduced that to between $18 million and $19 million per year, housing advocates said.
Preferred method
Under Taft's proposal, a fee charged by county recorders for administrative costs would be doubled, the new funding would be dedicated to the housing trust fund, which would bring in about $40 million annually.
The average recorder fee is now $15.38 per filing.
Taft's proposal also would fund affordable housing programs such as the Supportive Housing for Homeless, the Emergency Shelter Grant and the CDC Grant program through the recorder fee increase.
Low-income housing advocates say they want those affordable housing programs paid for through the state's general fund.
But the House's version of the budget didn't include the recorder-fee increase, instead earmarking $88 million over the two-year budget period for the housing trust fund and for the other low-income housing programs.
Faith said low-income housing advocates will be lobbying state senators to restore the increase in recorders' fees.
Budget progress
The Senate Finance and Financial Institutions Committee has already started hearings on the state budget that must be in place by July 1.
Bill M. Harris, finance committee chairman and an Ashland Republican, said he's concerned that in tight fiscal times the state is proposing to fund housing programs with state money instead of another source.
Unless spending is reduced or more money is generated, officials say the state faces between a $3 billion to $4 billion shortfall in the next two-year budget period.