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Counties in Appalachian Ohio are gripped by a kind of generational economic sluggishness that leaves too many facing not just food insecurity, but housing insecurity as well. But U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development data shows only about one-fourth of the state's emergency shelters are in Ohio's 32 Appalachian counties.
"We have a vast shortage of homeless shelters," Chasity Schmelzenbach, executive director of the Buckeye Hills Regional Council, according to a report by the Ohio Capital Journal, said.
HUD's 2022 data showed an average of more than 10,600 people without housing on any given night in the Buckeye State.
"In southeastern Ohio in particular, as in all areas of the state, there is a lack of housing," Amy Riegel, the executive director of Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio, told the Capital Journal.
With the jobs landscape changing in the state (and too many politicians representing the most affected counties resisting the diversification and expansion of our economy), Appalachian Ohio has been left behind. And while it is up to those politicians and public officials to work toward improving the economy in a way that reduces the insecurities families are experiencing, organizations dedicated to helping the most vulnerable are hard at work.
Buckeye Hills Regional Council is developing affordable housing projects such as Buckeye Fields in Washington County, which will start with 64 units, or The Ridges in Athens. It has partnered with Ohio University, the City of Athens, Athens County and Community Building Partners to develop 720 housing units -- a mix of senior affordable housing, traditional affordable housing and some market rate units, according to the Capital Journal.
It will take creative partnerships such as these not just to build the affordable housing we need in our communities, but to change minds about the education and employers we should be welcoming -- and preparing for -- in Appalachian Ohio. Communities across the region are going to have to take a hard look at what they must change to turn the tide.