League talks area housing

TIFFIN — The League of Women Voters of Tiffin heard from local area leaders about new and affordable housing opportunities in both Tiffin and the Seneca County area. On the panel of guest speakers were Bryan Schube and Bill Jones of Remax Realtors, Tiffin Mayor Lee Wilkinson, Sarah Krupp and Renee Smith from the Fostoria Economic Development and Adam Gillmor and Bryce Riggs from Tiffin-Seneca Economic Partnership. Gillmor spoke on the findings of studies done in 2019 and 2023 by TSEP to gain a broader understanding of the housing situation in Seneca County. He advised that the two main factors contributing to a distinct lack of housing in the area are that many houses are aging out and affordability of housing has also decreased. Gillmor advised that there is an ongoing housing crisis in both Ohio and across the country. "It's not an ideal situation. We are significantly behind on how much housing we need here in Seneca County," he said, advising that housing permits issued have decreased exponentially in recent years. Wilkinson added to what Gillmor reported by saying that there had been more single-family permits drawn immediately following the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic but the trend was slowing again. Gillmor then reported the area housing market could support 65-85 new houses per year for the next ten years in order to meet the needed demand. Jones reported not only the cost of housing steadily rising but also interest rates to borrow that money is increasing. "We're still at record low inventory, there's still a lot of buyers… We're still significantly underwater in the amount of homes that we should have," he said, later saying that housing developers are still reeling from the financial crisis of 2008. The problem lies in the fact that there's not just a lack of affordable housing options, there's also a lack of middle and high-end homes in the area. But there is cause for hope. Riggs spoke briefly about the aforementioned senior housing development, saying there was an unnamed investor willing to put infrastructure in place to make the development a mixed-use area and offer different amenities to the residents of that neighborhood. Smith later spoke about a new state-funded grant program that offers community organizations funds to build new housing saying the FED had received $2.75 million to build eight to 10 new houses split between both Fostoria and Tiffin. She later said she had recently applied for more funding from the grant to build more new houses in the area. "We're identifying the need and then slowly working to fill the need," Smith said. After much research, she advised modular houses were the cheapest and most sustainable option so the houses would be factory built and then imported but each house was going to be similar but different enough to blend into the neighborhood where it would be placed. Each house would be sold for $180,000 or less to individuals meeting certain state-mandated requirements. "We really want to set them up for success," Smith said, explaining that they were not planning to sell houses and then disappear. The FEDC would help the homeowner along the way when needed. Wilkinson advised a new senior housing development was in progress which also might help alleviate the housing crisis. He later said rental units in Tiffin are currently in high demand. The panel also discussed the possibility of building trendy "tiny homes" but found that smaller footprints didn't necessarily mean a cheaper price point to build. Wilkinson said there had been ongoing discussions about a "tiny home" development but those talks didn't end up going anywhere because "tiny homes" were not as cost-effective as they originally thought. Also discussed was the impact of Airbnb rentals in the area. Wilkinson said that though it doesn't help the housing market, short-term rentals like Airbnb do have an economic impact by inviting people with disposable incomes to spend money in the Tiffin community. Though the housing market in Tiffin and Seneca County seems to be a bit difficult to manage at the moment, the need for more housing is very slowly being met and considered. "There is a lot of reason to hope," Gilmor said. "Part of that is there is a good group of people looking to support the efforts to build new housing."