COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSYX) — For months, ABC 6 has reported on the rapid rise in population in Central Ohio and the housing crisis it’s creating.
According to Columbus City Council, there are at least 3,500 vacant homes in the city. In July,Council passed legislation for a vacant property registry.
City Council President Pro Tem Rob Dorans told ABC 6 the registry would serve as a way to protect neighborhoods from blight caused by vacant properties while holding property owners accountable for not keepingtheirpropertiesup to city code.
“We have been aware of vacant properties in the past, but we have not beenproactive about how we hold these folks accountable,” Dorans said. “If you are not keeping your property up, then it is going to land you in environmental court pretty quickly and require you to pay the fines that come with that.”
Dorans said, under the legislation, vacant property owners would be required to add their property to the registry. Residents who spot problem properties can also submit them to the list.
According to Dorans, once the list is created, the city’s code enforcement would conduct ongoing inspections to make sure the properties are being maintained.
Dorans also said, if a property owner doesn’t comply, they could be forced to sell their home.
“In a city where we have a housing crisis, it boggles my mind to think we have vacant housing right now,” Dorans said. “If a property owner does not comply, through environmental court, we can force those folks to sell the properties to someone.”
Hilltop residents told ABC 6 that vacant properties have plagued their community fordecades.
“We’ve been here a long time and it’s been a problem for a long time,” Robert Murray said.
Murray and his wife Betty have lived in the Hilltopforover 50 years and arecurrentlyliving acrossthestreet from a vacant home.
“They get a lot of homeless people over there,” Murray said. “They break the doors and windows.I recently put a camera out in front of our house because of the people who have been hanging around over there.”
“You just would like to have someone who would be good neighbors, would really take care of the home and be part of the community,” Murray said.
Carla Carr, another Hilltop resident said if the registry works the way the city intends it to, it would allow more Hilltop residents to have pride in their neighborhood again.
“It’s certainly frustrating that all these houses are sitting like this in our neighborhood and are festering and crumbing down,” Carr said. “If we are living in a community where we have properties that are dilapidated, it creates an environment where that becomes acceptable.”
The vacant housing registry would go into effect on Jan. 1, 2025.
