Columbus Zoning Changes Aimed at Increasing Housing Supply, Affordability

The city council in Columbus, Ohio voted to approve 17 zoning changes aimed at creating almost 900 new housing units, half of them deemed affordable by the city’s standards, reports Bill Bush in The Columbus Dispatch.

Bush adds, “The new units will be spread across neighborhoods throughout the city, including in parts of the North, South and East sides, and will have an impact on the city's housing shortage, officials said.”

Bush notes that “the City Council typically approves ordinances related to constructing more than 8,000 new housing units per year,” but the council drew particular attention to this meeting’s actions as a sign of their goal of “being intentional in adding more housing units and affordable units.”

“The votes Monday changed the zoning on a total of about 35 acres. The rest dealt with granting variances from zoning requirements, such as reduced perimeters, allowing habitable space above detached garages, to permit apartment complexes with ‘reduced development standards’ and more.”