'I lost everything I had': The faces of Columbus' housing crisis

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- For many people in Columbus who are struggling to keep or put a roof over their heads, help is coming too late.

It’s something leaders in the city are calling a crisis as more people cram into apartments and work second or third jobs to make ends meet.

NBC4 Investigates looked into the safety of where some people experiencing homelessness are staying and why some waiting lists for affordable housing are years long.

The Community Shelter Board said that from 2017 to 2022, rents rose by 34 percent in Columbus. Nationally, that rise was 29 percent. Vacancy rates were even worse: they dropped 19 percent nationally, but in Columbus, it was more than double that number.

Those facts are making it almost impossible for some to find an affordable place to live and the funding from some programs is running out.

"I guess I'm just stuck," Amanda King, who has been experiencing homelessness for the last 10 years, said.

Ten years ago, King never thought she’d be living in a motel, scared of going back to living in the woods in south Columbus. She had kids and a husband, then everything changed.

"It was just a huge downfall and it led to us being homeless," King said.

Her husband died and she was left to figure out how to get back on her feet alone.

She found the mutual aid group Heer to Serve and after months of advocating, the program leaders were able to move 27 people living behind a mobile home in south Columbus into a motel thanks to funding from the Community Shelter Board.

“It's a higher cost approach than traditional shelter, but we really know that this is the intervention that works best for people who, you know, don't want to enter traditional shelter," Community Shelter Board Chief Program Effectiveness Officer Steve Skovensky said. "We have such an immediate housing crisis in the community that, you know, there isn't the level of housing for the level of need that we see."

However, it hasn't been easy.

"Of course, you know, I am so grateful," King said. "Over the past few months, it's just been a gradual decline. You've got more people, you know, fighting, stealing."

The city’s code enforcement has visited the motel.

"This particular hotel had a number of zoning violations, a lot of site plan issues, which is basically the property around the building, but they did have one area where there was some exposed wires that we wrote a violation for," Columbus Deputy Director of Building and Zoning Services Anthony Celebrezze said. "We're in the business of trying to encourage landowners, property owners to maintain and take care of their property."

Exposed wood, lights and a fear about what happens when the motel money runs out.

"You never know from one day to the next if you're going to have to leave and not have nothing," another woman NBC4 Investigates spoke with said.

This woman said medical bills cost her everything eight years ago.

"I broke my back," she said.

She doesn’t want her family to know she’s homeless, so NBC4 agreed to not identify her.

"I lost everything I had,” she said. “I had nowhere to go so that’s where I went.”

CSB gave people in this motel program a list of 20 places to call for affordable housing.

NBC4 Investigates also called every place on the list: one number was disconnected, one was a scam, two were only for people 65 and older, one was not even affordable housing and almost every other we got in touch with had a waitlist at least six months long.

"What’s the point of putting an application in for two years from now, you know, we did," the woman who asked to remain anonymous said.

For some, the waitlists were longer than three years.

The motel program is evaluated each month based on funding and people in the program. Many are worried the program will end before they can find a safe place to call home.

"I'm kind of like stuck in limbo because I don't know whether or not they're going to let me stay here or they are going to kick me right back out on the streets," King said.

King is facing an added hurdle: open court cases and a warrant that kept her out of housing programs.

"I’ve literally jumped through every hoop and hurdle that they had thrown at me," King said.

King has open court cases relating to drugs. She says she’s gone to treatment and has been clean for a few months, but still can’t get into a housing program.

"I'm still stuck in the same exact position," King said.

She says she’s trying, but with Columbus’ housing market only getting more expensive, trying isn’t enough for her or for anyone looking for an affordable place to live.

"It really shouldn't be this hard for somebody to have a home of their own or to feel safe and live a normal life, and I guess I'm just stuck," King said.

Columbus City Council and Mayor Andrew Ginther tout affordable housing as a priority for the city.

Ginther has put $104 million in this year’s proposed capital budget, but that’s for the future. Those without a home right now said it's a hopeless feeling as beds fill up and no immediate solution is in sight.

"We are running out of housing,” Skovensky said. “You know, we see the need growing. We know that homelessness will continue to grow based on those two factors that we talked about with rising rents and lowering vacancy rates. So that's why we're committed to expanding housing, whatever means possible.”