A Dayton task force will deliver recommendations in the first quarter of 2020 to address the city's high eviction rate, which ranks 26th in the country.
Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley told WVXU eviction is just one piece of the overall housing issue that Dayton is trying to solve. She says there is a lack of accessible and affordable housing. "I think what we're seeing in legacy cities across the country - and Dayton is no different - we're seeing a lot of vacancies, so you wouldn't think you would have a housing shortage. But you do because those houses really aren't inhabitable."
Earlier this year Whaley created a task force to address the problem. The panel is diverse with landlords, realtors, judges, academia and representatives from community action agencies.
"I think what we'll do in the first quarter of 2020 is the task force will come together again," she says. "And there's some recommendations that we will make to change the general revised code of ordinances in the city and I hope to get the commission's support."
Mayor Whaley praises Senator Rob Portman's Eviction Crisis Act to address the problem on a national level. It would improve data and analysis on evictions, increase legal representation and establish an emergency fund.
On the national scale the mayor says, "One troubling thing I'm worried about is the idea that people shouldn't own homes and frankly, in Dayton, it's cheaper to own a home than rent it if we can get people's credit right."
The Dayton Daily News reports nearly 7% of Ohio's 1.57 million renter households received an eviction filing in one year.
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