Ohio joins a long list of pro-housing policy states
At the current rate of construction, estimates predict it will take seven years to close the housing gap. The U.S. is still short about 4 million units. The problem is hitting home. After more than a decade of inflated home prices, states, including Ohio, are realizing they can enact policies to accelerate the building process.
What are the hold-ups?
Creating a variety of new housing quickly is difficult, as Brick by Brick reported in Supply-Side Solution Housing Types.
In that 2024 episode, Cincinnati City leaders said it could take three to five years before it saw more density as a result of the Connected Communities zoning plan and “missing middle” housing.
Montgomery County is starting to build 40 homes and renovate another two dozen as part of a $7M land bank grant from the state. In addition, blight removal continues with many more parcels to still clear.
How quickly single-family home construction ramps up in either city depends on interest rates, the cost of materials and political will.
State Legislatures see pro-housing as the way to go
Across the country state lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are realizing they can jumpstart home building and enact pro-housing policies.
Pro-housing legislation supports communities who take steps to remove barriers to building more housing.
The Pew Charitable Trusts reports progress in State Legislatures Make Bipartisan Breakthroughs on Policies That Promote Housing.
The article reports, “In 2025 state legislatures enacted unprecedented reforms to improve the availability and affordability of housing.” Leading the way are Texas, Washington and Montana.
For example, Washington state passed H.B. 1491 which allows six-story apartments within a half mile of rail stations and four-story buildings near bus rapid transit.
Texas sharply reduced the lot size required for new single-family homes. Kentucky and Montana prohibit a local government from adopting or enforcing zoning regulations that treat manufactured homes differently from single-family homes.
Pew reports “Arizona allows single-family home construction permits to be approved by designated third-party professionals rather than waiting for a limited number of municipal inspectors.”
In addition, Arizona and Oregon have created preapproved plan systems to speed up development.
In 2024 Brick by Brick reported Hamilton County’s Director of Planning and Development James Noyes, along with the County Regional Planning Commission, created a model zoning code that districts can use if they’d like. While only a handful of counties had signed on to the model zoning code then, Noyes was hopeful more would adopt the format.
Ohio’s new pro-housing policy
Championed by House Minority Leader Dani Isaacsohn, D-Over-the-Rhine and Adam Mathews R-Lebanon, Ohio lawmakers passed a $10 million housing accelerator grant for fiscal 2026 and $15 million in 2027.
The grant money is available to any county, township or municipality that is fully or partially located within a 20-mile radius of a current or pending major economic development project. The Department of Development will review applications on a rolling basis.
The community must have plans to adopt and implement at least three of eleven pro-housing policies to get grant money. They include:
- Reduce the time for the permit review process.
- Have a pre-approval process.
- Subsidize or decrease the cost of water or sewer for major workforce housing projects.
- Acquire and ready sites that are ready to be financed and build on by developers.
- Reduce or eliminate impact, inspection and plan review fees for housing developers.
- Adopt a zoning plan that includes promoting higher density, small lot size and minimum setback requirements.
- Develop a comprehensive plan that promotes diverse residential development options.
- Have no minimal parking requirements for developments with residential units.
- Conduct a traffic study, improving water or sewer infrastructure, improve roads, or permitting both rigid and flexible pavement types.
- Develop partnerships to expand the provision of sewer and water services to new areas.
- Promote the use of non-traditional building structures, such as modular or manufactured homes.
The importance as explained by its sponsors
Isaacsohn and Mathews joined Brick by Brick to talk about their legislation and how they think it can help.
According to Mathews, “It is very difficult for any single earner, even your average income earner in Ohio, which is in the $60,000-80,000 range to afford anything there that is a starter home. In 2024 he pointed out there were fewer than 100 homes under $300,000 for sale in Warren County.
More homes on the market would ease the housing crisis. Isaacsohn says, “It’s not just a housing crisis, but it’s an affordability crisis because it is hard to build. In some communities there’s onerous regulations. It costs a lot of money. It takes a lot of time. There’s hoops you have to jump through.”
The state House Minority Leader says, “We can’t afford to let Ohio fall behind any more than we already are. What makes Ohio historically so special is that it’s a place where people can feel like they can afford to live a good life.”
Mathews and Isaacsohn joined forces on this legislation despite being on opposite sides of the aisle politically. “It’s not a partisan issue. It’s not a bipartisan issue. It’s a generational issue,” says Mathews. “And we are some of the younger members here. I think this is going to be something we are going to be working on for a long time.”
According to Isaacsohn, “The crisis is so vast, there is so much work for us to do in the housing space…we like to say there’s ten years of bipartisan agreement before we ever have to disagree on certain things because there’s so much to do.”
Next steps
The Ohio Department of Development plans to have the grant process ready by the end of 2025. According to Isaacsohn, that will be for this year’s allocation and then there will be another allocation for next year.
Already Cincinnati, Lebanon and Xenia have expressed interest.
Looking ahead
Ultimately Mathews and Isaacsohn would like the fund increased. Originally they proposed $100-150 million annually.
Nationally, many wonder if pro-housing policies are working. The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy studied the responses of states and detailed their work in Updates on the State of Statewide Housing Policy: new Insights into Implementation and Results.
Lincoln reports, “Monitoring and evaluating the effects of these policies is critical to ensuring their continued success.” It suggests increasing the evidence base, suggesting “there is a widespread need for better data and metrics on housing production, composition and prices/rents.”
Only Colorado and California have a process to track building permits statewide, according to Lincoln. More broadly it suggests, “Policymakers should be clear about a policy’s intended goals, identify appropriate metrics for monitoring over time and set aside resources for implementation and evaluation.”
What do you think about pro-housing policies as a solution to our housing supply shortage? Will communities take advantage of Ohio’s grant money and will it work? We want to build community around context and solutions in our cities. Your feedback is very important to the effort, as we continue to dig deeper into the responses to some of our most pressing social issues, including the housing crisis. Click on the green button to take a short survey to help reinforce and refine our work. Thank you.
Ann Thompson – Host, Producer
Over the last thirty years in Cincinnati, Ann Thompson has brought a wealth of knowledge and expertise to her reporting. She has reported and anchored for WVXU, WKRC, WCKY, WHIO-TV and Metro Networks and freelanced for NPR, CBS and ABC Radio. Her work has been recognized by the Associated Press and she has won awards from the Association of Women in Communications and the Alliance for Women in Media. She is a former News Director and Operations Manager. Ann has reported from India, Japan, South Korea, Germany and Belgium as part of fellowships. Ann thinks of the Brick by Brick project as “journalism for good.” She serves as host and producer. Ann lives in Anderson Township with her husband Scott. They have two boys. Jake graduated from the Air Force Academy in 2022 and Kurt attends West Point.
