Union County isn’t building enough homes.
This is according to the Building Industry Association of Central Ohio’s recently published study looking at housing needs in the Columbus and central Ohio region.
The study was first done in 2017 and updated this year to account for changes and expansions in the area including the Intel facility going in east of Columbus.
According to the BIA, the study “confirms and expands on the 2017 study, demonstrating a need to nearly double the housing production of the previous decade to meet projected housing demands.” It further explains that a failure to do so will exacerbate “housing affordability and availability and places our economic growth at risk.”
Union County Economic Director Eric Phillips recntly presented the information to the county commissioners and said the county is among the areas behind on the number of homes needed to keep up with growth.
“Going forward over the next decade, Union County needs to build between 483 and 629 units,” Phillips said.
He said this includes single family units, multi-family units and rental properties on a yearly basis.
“Just to put that in context, between 1990 and 2021, we built an average of 428 a year.” Phillips said. “So, there’s a deficit according to their numbers.”
He said that BIA numbers show the region built more residential units in 2006 than are built today which he said might surprise some residents.
“There’s a deficit and it’s pretty much the same in every county,” Phillips said.
He said the BIA bases the forecasts off the premise that for every new job created, the community needs a housing unit.
Data shows the county sitting at around 30,000 jobs but Phillips said those numbers will jump in the next decade.
“By 2032, we’re going to be between 34,000 and 36,000 new jobs,” he said.
Commissioner Dave Burke said he was unsure as to why home builders couldn’t keep up with these demands.
“If (builders) aren’t building enough homes, what’s their barrier?” Burke asked. “How is the private market not working to build homes for people that are going to have jobs to buy homes?”
Phillips said it may have a bit to do with the area’s building restrictions on setbacks, lot sizes and other requirements.
“I think the number one reason is zoning barriers and land use barriers in our region,” Phillips said. “We are much more strict in how we do zoning and control.”
He said it’s very expensive for developers in the region to build and that may deter more expansive growth.
Burke said zoning isn’t up to county officials but instead falls in with the decision-making of townships.
“I’m hoping in this report…that they will have specific items per township that people can take action on,” Burke said. “I’m assuming they’ll give us some direction.”
Commissioner Chris Schmenk said growth issues have been part of the conversation in most if not all the county’s municipalities, noting that the City of Marysville has worked specifically to make development issues easier to handle.
“The City of Marysville has made, I think, pretty significant strides forward. They updated their zoning code,” she said, adding changes to setback and density requirements. “In townships, it’s just a bit harder.”
She said it’s difficult when communities advocate for larger lot sizes that affect the density numbers.
Burke added that those requirements also force price differences.
“If it is a supply issue and affordability, something we’re concerned about, those barriers actually decrease the supply and cause the value of the existing homes and new homes to go up,”Burke said, adding that developers are building million dollar homes because they are being forced to by way of regulations. “I certainly don’t want government to be in the way.”