Ohio’s Housing Wage Crisis | Columbus News

Ohio’s housing crisis just got steeper: full-time workers need to earn $23.82 an hour to afford a decent two-bedroom apartment, up 5% from last year. That’s nearly $50K annually — but most Ohio renters make just $19.59 an hour, leaving a huge gap. Rising costs for food, transit, and childcare are squeezing low-wage workers in retail and fast food. Over the past six years, the “Housing Wage” has jumped 169%, and in places like Union County, it’s even higher at $27.56. With hundreds of thousands of affordable units missing, experts say wage hikes alone won’t fix it — more investment in rental assistance and deeply affordable housing is urgently needed to combat rising homelessness. Listen in comfort:Get a discount on a Soli Pillow: http://solipillow.com/discount/dnn. Advertise on DNN:[email protected] This is an automated, high-level news summary based on public reporting.Report issues to [email protected]. View sources & latest updates:https://sources.thednn.ai/5fa05ec91a1546e3