COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSYX) — The new Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Scott Turner, visited Columbus to discuss the ongoing housing and homelessness crisis. Turner emphasized that federal dollars are not the solution, despite acknowledging the increasing number of unhoused individuals.
The federal government is not the solution. The federal government is not the answer,” Turner said. “HUD is a great convener. HUD is a great gatherer of stakeholders to come to the table.
In East Columbus, federal leaders highlighted a tiny home initiative as a potential solution. Vista Village, a faith-based organization, has constructed 41 homes, each 400 square feet, for individuals experiencing homelessness. Residents pay low rent and must participate in counseling, education, work, and financial planning.
Heaven, a resident of Vista Village, shared her experience, saying, “I spent my childhood in foster care from literally three days old. Right after my mother threw me out in the snow.”
Juan “John” Perez, head of Vista Village, noted the absence of federal funding for the project. “We have looked for federal money for the project. There is none,” he said.
Ohio’s U.S. Senators, Bernie Moreno and Jon Husted, toured Connect Housing Blocks, a company building apartment complexes by the block in a Columbus warehouse. “This isn’t a government program. This is a guy with an idea about how he could do something more efficient and more effectively,” said Husted about the company’s CEO.
The company aims to construct bigger, cheaper and faster using a manufactured model. The individual housing blocks are built separately within the warehouse and then stacked together on site. While praising the company’s pursuit of private capital investments, the senators also addressed the challenges faced by Intel, which has yet to open operations in Ohio.
The big reason as to why that factory is not open right now is they don’t have customers,” said Sen. Moreno. “Now, a combination of tariffs and our involvement in there is going to get them customers.
The federal government recently acquired ten percent of Intel’s stock, providing billions of dollars to the company. “Once Intel is back on its feet, we can sell those shares and the taxpayer can get a return,” Sen. Moreno added.