Worthington housing needs study prescribes infill as working, seniors priced out

A Worthington housing study suggests there is demand for an additional 2,000 homes and calls for the addition of smaller, closer and more affordable options in strategic areas.

The Worthington City Council hired Camoin Associates, a New York-based consulting firm, last year to conduct a housing needs assessment. The board voted unanimously to accept the 150-page report last week.

Before the vote, Council member David Robinson expressed concern about accepting the report, saying it could indicate that members endorsed everything the report said, which he said they did not do. Robinson said the report is “one-sided” and does not mention, for example, community resistance to high-density apartments that are not well executed.

City Manager Robyn Stewart said accepting the report just means the council has received the information in the report and is ready to move forward.

In addition to Robinson, the rest of the board expressed more openness to the report’s conclusions.

Board member Beth Kowalczyk said this report tracks with what they have been hearing, including that seniors and young people are being harmed.

“This also drives economic development. Employers want to be able to locate where their employees can live. And because we can’t resolve this issue, fewer and fewer employees can live in this community and work where they live,” Kowalczyk said.

Worthington, a landlocked suburb surrounded by Columbus, currently has about 15,000 residents and about 6,150 housing units. Its 5 ½ square miles are already mostly developed.

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The report determined the demand for additional housing by adding the estimated number of overcrowded residents, displaced commuters and a small number of overcrowded households.

Cost-burdened means a household spends more than 30% of its income on housing. The report found that a third of Worthington’s renters are overburdened, and half of them are elderly.

The report refers to displaced commuters as those who work in Worthington and would like to live in the suburb but cannot due to market conditions.

Robinson disagreed with calling these workers displaced, saying it makes them seem like victims who were forcibly removed.

Board member Rebecca Hermann said that in the 1980s she worked at the AT&T building in Worthington but could not afford housing for her family in the suburb.

“I didn’t have the money for that. So, I lived in the Worthington school district… I know some renters who weren’t able to afford to live in Worthington,” Hermann said. “It was a dislocation… and honestly, I felt a little frustrated.”

Robert J. O’Brien, Camoin’s senior housing specialist, told the council during a presentation that he doesn’t think Worthington will be able to add 2,000 units, at least immediately, and the change will be incremental with modest infill.

“But this is how you start to solve this: by providing more supply that can shift the market to make it more affordable and accessible for people who want to live or stay in Worthington,” O’Brien said.

Strategies for diversifying housing suggested by Camoin in the report include allowing duplexes, accessory dwelling units, mixed-use development, townhouses along boundaries between business districts and neighborhoods, courtyard homes, and village-style development with smaller homes in smaller batches. The report also suggests strategies to support existing apartment buildings to maintain affordable housing that already exists in the suburbs.

O’Brien also warned in his presentation against allowing citizens with strong opinions to have a disproportionate say in opposing a development, saying it’s an issue that all communities in America face. Camoin suggests in his report establishing clear protocols for approving projects to avoid uncertainty for developers that could keep them away from Worthington.

Robinson said he disagreed with the suggestion that Worthington’s process is still not objective.

Other key findings from the report include:

• In a survey last year of 676 Worthington residents, 73% of Worthington respondents said the city government should be involved in the housing market to promote housing goals.

• As of 2021, only 6% of Worthington residents work in the suburb and only 3% of the local workforce lives in Worthington.

• While Franklin County saw a 10% increase in new housing between 2010 and 2020, Worthington’s housing units grew just 3% during that period.

• Demand for apartments in Worthington is strong and the rental vacancy rate is at 3.6%, below the 5% the report says is healthy.

• Although rents in the area have risen faster than in Worthington over the past decade (67% vs. 50%), rents in the suburb are still 17% higher than rents in the area.

• Worthington’s average asking rent last year was $1,719.

jlaird@dispatch.com

@LairdWrites

This article originally appeared in The Columbus Dispatch: Worthington housing study: housing needs to fill to combat high prices