Pryce Receives “Champion of Women’s Health Award”from Health Care Advocacy Groups

May 6, 2008

Pryce Language Paves Way for Revitalization of Struggling
Columbus Neighborhoods

Washington, DC – Tomorrow, the U.S. House of Representatives will consider legislation packaging a number of proposals to remedy the foreclosure crisis and better regulate the mortgage industry. The bill will include language authored by Congresswoman Deborah Pryce (R-Columbus) to decentralize subsidized federal housing in the University District and the Near East to allow for revitalization of the areas.

Specifically, Pryce’s language will permit the transfer of certain, project-based Section 8 rent assistance from buildings concentrated in these two areas of the City to other affordable housing units in the City of Columbus. For seven years, area officials have explored an array of possible solutions to relieve these areas of concentrated blight and dilapidated buildings, but statutory restrictions impeded the transfers that are required to allow gentrification to proceed.

Said Pryce, “For too long, revitalization efforts have bypassed these areas, because property owners were locked into long-term contracts with the federal government. This language will move the units to other affordable housing property locations, help in the effort to revitalize Columbus, and encourage homeownership in areas that have been stymied in their efforts to improve their communities. It is a common-sense, win-win solution for everyone.”

This transfer creates no additional expense for the federal government and preserves the exact same number of assisted units. Additionally, homeownership rates in the affected neighborhoods would increase as the existing properties can be converted to affordable homeownership opportunities. Current tenants will be moved from specific housing units too dilapidated to renovate to nearby, recently renovated buildings, and are generally supportive of the plan. The Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing (OCCH) will develop a plan for relocating and decentralizing the current properties.

Said Hal Keller, President of the OCCH, “This legislative authority is critical to redevelopment efforts in Weinland Park, the neighborhood surrounding the Ohio State University, and in the near east side of Columbus. The ability to move the affordable housing subsidies will preserve the needed resources for low and moderate income residents of Columbus while spurring community revitalization efforts in these two neighborhoods. We thank Congresswoman Pryce for her leadership on this important issue.”

The larger bill, HR 3221, is expected to be on the House floor on Wednesday. In addition to the bill’s homeownership and foreclosure measures, it includes packages to encourage renewable energy and energy conservation. Pryce’s language was originally included in H.R. 1851, the Section 8 Voucher Reform Act of 2007, which passed the house in July of 2007. HR 3221 will also allow for a similar transfer in the Over-the-Rhine community in Cincinnati, Ohio.

About Campus Partners

The university, in cooperation with the city, created Campus Partners for Community Urban Redevelopment in 1995 to spearhead the revitalization of the University District. Campus Partners was incorporated as a non-profit organization to work with the city, community agencies, neighborhood leaders, and the university itself .

About the Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing

The Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing (OCCH) is an independent, mission-driven nonprofit corporation based in Columbus that works with private and public developers to create affordable housing opportunities. Its mission is to cause the construction, rehabilitation and preservation of affordable housing throughout all of Ohio.

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