Update from Campus Partners:  November 28, 2001

Contents:

Homeownership Incentive Program reaches one goal

        Over the past three years, 74 faculty and staff members of The Ohio State University have purchased homes in the University District using a university-sponsored program of downpayment assistance.  Under the terms of the program, approximately one-third of the funding has been targeted for homes in the less-distressed neighborhoods of the University District and approximately two-thirds of the funding for homes in the more-distressed neighborhoods.

        As of Nov. 2, funding has been exhausted for the less-distressed neighborhoods north of Norwich Avenue and the Dennison Place neighborhood in the southwest portion of the University District.  No further applications are being taken for downpayment assistance for the purchase of homes in these neighborhoods.  Funding continues, however, for the remainder of the University District south of Norwich Avenue and east of North High Street, including the Weinland Park neighborhood.

        The Ohio State University Faculty and Staff Neighborhood Homeownership Incentive Program began June 1, 1998, with $500,000 allocated by the university’s Board of Trustees from Campus Partners funding.   Under the program, eligible faculty and staff receive $3,000 in downpayment assistance to buy a home and live in the University District.

        The program was a key recommendation from Campus Partners’ planning efforts to improve the neighborhoods around Ohio State.   The program was designed to promote an increase in the level of homeownership in the University District and to strengthen the ties between the university and its neighborhoods through greater involvement of employees in the civic life of the university community.  Northside Development Corporation, a non-profit affordable housing provider serving the University District, has administered the program and conducted a number of homeownership workshops for university employees.

        As of the end of September 2001, 74 homes had been purchased with support from the incentive program.  Of those, 58 (78 percent) were in the less-distressed neighborhoods and 16 (22 percent) in the more distressed neighborhoods.  The majority of the homes are classified as affordable housing.  Forty-eight (65 percent) were purchased for less than $100,000.

Of the 74 employees, 55 (74 percent) were first-time home-buyers and 54 (73 percent) previously lived outside the University District.  The median salary for employees participating in the program was $34,950.  The employees included 21 (28 percent) faculty members, 29 (39 percent) administrative and professional employees, 5 (7 percent) senior administrative and professional employees, and 19 (26 percent) classified civil service employees.

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Student neighborhoods settle down;
Police to patrol against burglaries

        From accounts at the meetings of the Campus Partners Safety Coordinating Committee and the Off-Campus Strategies Committee, the predominantly student neighborhood has settled down a great deal compared with last spring and last fall.  The “Neighborhood Patrol,” is out, usually on bicycles, early on Friday and Saturday evenings.  The patrol is composed of three teams.   Each team has two Columbus Police officers and one University Police officer.   There seems to be a better relationship between students and police.   Information on arrests of Ohio State students is shared with the university’s Office of Student Judicial Affairs.  In cooperation with Ohio State’s Parent Association, that office also sent a letter to parents about the riots last spring and asked parents to talk with their students about the situation.

        Ohio State’s Student Wellness Center has worked with a number of on-campus and off-campus partners to expand the number of week-end late-night activities for students.  The Student Wellness Center and Off-Campus Student Services also held a meeting in August and again in October for property owners to discuss ways to control off-campus parties and situations which could lead to disturbances.  They are planning to bring the property owners together again in December.

        For the fourth year, Columbus Police, University Police and the Community Crime Patrol will jointly place special patrols in the University District over the holidays to prevent burglaries and related crimes while students are gone.  The special patrols will begin Dec. 8 and continue through the first week of January.  With the advent of these patrols, the number of burglaries reported during this period has been cut by more than half.

The Campus Partners Safety Coordinating Committee will not meet in December.  The next regular monthly meeting will be Wednesday, Jan. 9, at 2:30 p.m. in Blankenship Hall, 901 Woody Hayes Drive.  Meanwhile, the African American Heritage Festival Coordinating Committee has begun holding monthly meetings, usually on the second Wednesday of the month at 1 p.m.  For more information on the heritage festival committee, contact the Office of Student Affairs at 292-9334.

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Progress made on restructuring of Broad Street housing

        Significant progress is being made to implement Campus Partners’ alternate restructuring plan for the Broad Street affordable housing portfolio, which includes about 550 units of project-based, Section 8 subsidized housing in the Weinland Park neighborhood.  The portfolio currently is owned and managed by Broad Street Management, Inc., through 13 limited partnerships.

Campus Partners has asked Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing (OCCH) to work as a primary partner in the implementation of the restructuring plan and, specifically, to help create the new community-based, non-profit entity that would acquire the portfolio.  Hal Keller, president of OCCH, and his staff are conducting a thorough review of the portfolio and the planning done to date.  Mr. Keller has been a member of Campus Partners’ Broad Street Advisory Panel since its inception last February.

        OCCH was formed in 1989 by the Ohio Housing Finance Agency to support the production, rehabilitation and preservation of affordable housing in Ohio.  OCCH has since become an independent non-profit corporation working with public and private developers on the financing, construction and management of thousands of units of affordable housing.  OCCH also provides training and consultation on a range of affordable housing issues.

        Thanks to the efforts of Senator Mike DeWine and Congresswoman Deborah Pryce, the conference committee report on the VA/HUD appropriations bill issued in early November included a special appropriation of $750,000 for the Ohio State University-Campus Partners Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative.   With strong support from Ohio State President William Kirwan and city and neighborhood leaders, Campus Partners sought a special appropriation to help fund the de-concentration of units and the supportive services for residents of the Broad Street portfolio.

At this time, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Office of Multifamily Housing Assistance Restructuring (OMHAR) expect to restructure the Broad Street portfolio with its current ownership by Dec. 31, 2001 (the so-called Phase 1 restructuring).  Campus Partners is continuing to work with the current owner and with the federal agencies to ensure that this initial restructuring will be done in a fashion that will permit Campus Partners’ proposed second-stage restructuring (and transfer of the portfolio to new ownership) to move forward as smoothly as possible.   There isn’t a timeline on a second-stage restructuring, although that will be one priority in the discussions among Campus Partners, OCCH and other potential partners.

Meanwhile, community support for the restructuring and renovation of this portfolio of housing continues to grow.  The annual assembly of the B.R.E.A.D. Organization in late September unanimously endorsed Campus Partners’ restructuring plan for the portfolio.  B.R.E.A.D. is an inter-faith, social action group in Columbus.

The guiding principles of Campus Partners’ plan are:

• Preservation of the existing supply of affordable housing.
• Significant investment in renovation of the portfolio.
• Minimizing or avoiding displacement of existing residents.
• Access to an array of social services to current and future residents.
• De-concentration of a portion of the assisted stock with replacement units developed as part of this plan.

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Refuse collection and street sweeping

        The Columbus Refuse Collection Division conducted its annual special collection of bulk refuse in the University District from Aug. 25 through Sept. 9.  At the meeting of the Campus Partners Public Service Committee on refuse collection on Oct. 17, city staff reported that more bulk was removed in the first week of the special collection this year than in the previous two years combined.  The staff believes that some property owners were taking advantage of the special collection to dump refuse from renovation and repair work.  Efforts will be made next year to curb this abuse.  City staff also noted that there is a continuing problem of people parking in alleys and blocking access to dumpsters.  The next meeting on refuse collection will be Wednesday, Jan. 16, at 4 p.m. in the Northwood-High Building, 2231 N. High St.

        The regular program of street sweeping in the University District concluded in October and will resume next April.  The date of the next meeting on street sweeping has not been set yet, but probably won’t be held until February.

Changes involving Campus Partners board

          At its meeting Nov. 15, the Campus Partners Board of Trustees elected Bobby D. Moser as chair and William H. Hall as vice chair.  Dr. Moser is Ohio State’s vice president for agricultural administration and university outreach.  Mr. Hall is vice president for student affairs.

          Kathleen Fox, a resident of the Dennison Place, has temporarily stepped down from her position on the Campus Partners board representing the University District neighborhoods.  She is participating in a year-long fellowship program at Harvard University.  The board has selected Danielle Polemeni, who lives on Medary Avenue, to serve in Ms. Fox’s place until she returns next spring.  Ms. Polemeni, who taught high school for four years, recently was named director of The Learning Bridge, Ohio State’s program to work with the schools of the University District.  Sharon Austin, who lives on Iuka Avenue, is the other neighborhood representative on the Campus Partners board.

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Student involvement

        The executive committee of the Campus Partners Student Advisory Board has chosen Christina Morandini, a senior majoring in public relations and political science, as chair and Mark Minor, a sophomore majoring in geography (urban analysis) as vice-chair.  The Student Advisory Board is planning a public forum on student housing for Wednesday, Jan. 16, at 7 p.m. in the Frank Hale Black Cultural Center, 153 W. 12^th Ave.  The forum will include a panel of housing experts.

         Undergraduate Student Government has been more active than usual in focusing on projects in the University District.  Several key members of USG serve on the Campus Partners Student Advisory Committee and representatives of USG were appointed to  and are attending meetings of  the Campus Partners Safety Coordinating Committee, Campus Partners Public Service Committee, University Area Crime Stoppers board and University District Code Enforcement Task Force.

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