Ohio

How much do full-time workers have to make hourly to afford a two bedroom apartment?

Published

2 years ago

August 12, 2024

Press Room

How much do full-time workers have to make hourly to afford a two bedroom apartment?

How much must Ohioans earn per hour to afford a modest two-bedroom apartment? It might be more than you think.

Full-time workers must earn more than $20 per hour ($20.81) to afford a two-bedroom apartment, according to a new report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition and the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio.

That’s more than $40,000 a year. And, there’s a large gap between renters’ income and the cost of rent, according to the report.

In recent years, rent prices have increased rapidly, but income hasn’t kept pace. For instance, the so-called “housing wage” — or the amount workers must earn per hour to afford a two bedroom apartment — has increased 9% since last year.

Learn why evictions are rising: Eviction filings at 20-year high in Columbus, Franklin County and set to worsen

“Wages for Ohio’s most common jobs have increased significantly since the pandemic,” Ohio Coalition Executive Director Amy Riegel said in a media release. “Employers are trying to keep pace with inflation, but the skyrocketing cost of rent has effectively erased these wage gains, pushing affordable homes out of reach for a large swath of Ohio’s workforce.”

What jobs pay enough to afford rent in Ohio? Columbus? Cincinnati?

The report, called “Out of Reach Ohio,” shows that only two of the 10 jobs with the most employees in Ohio pay more than $20.81 per hour. Those are general operations managers and registered nurses.

Workers in some areas may have to make even more than $20.81 per hour, as rents are higher than the state’s average in some places.

Housing purchase: Columbus housing authority announces affordable housing coming to Columbus and Reynoldsburg

In Columbus, those wanting two-bedroom apartments must make $25.04 an hour to afford it. In Cincinnati, they have to make $22.98, and in Cleveland their income must be $21.31 per hour.

As rents rise, people lose their homes

Evictions are at a 20-year high and increasing in Franklin County this year, and Ohio landlords filed nearly 108,000 eviction cases in 2023. That’s more than any year since 2015, according to the report.

Meanwhile, homelessness increased 7% in Ohio from 2022 to 2023.

“Aging Ohioans and people with disabilities living on a fixed income are especially vulnerable to rent shock,” Riegel said in a release. Meanwhile, Social Security payments have increased only minimally in recent years.

“Ohioans who worked hard for 40 years or more should be enjoying their golden years. Instead, many are rationing medications and wondering how they’re going to feed themselves and pay the rent.”

How does Ohio’s housing wage measure up against other states?

The Out of Reach report also ranks states’ housing wages.

Ohio came in 41st, meaning 40 other states have higher housing wages. Still, Ohioans making minimum wage ($10.45 per hour in the state) would have to work 80 hours per week to afford a two-bedroom apartment.

More: What’s the plan to help people afford housing as Columbus’ COVID rent assistance runs out?

West Virginia has the lowest housing wage, with those wanting a two-bedroom apartment needing to make $18.46 per hour. The state’s minimum wage is $8.75, so minimum-wage workers must work 84 hours a week to afford a two-bedroom apartment.

California has the highest housing wage, at $47.38 per hour needed for a two-bedroom apartment. A minimum wage worker in that state earns $16 an hour and would have to work 118 hours per week to afford the same apartment.

What can be done about increasing rent?

Ohio’s budget last year included some early steps to address the state’s affordability crisis, Riegel said. But the state needs to do more, she said.

One of her suggestions? The Ohio Housing Trust Fund, the primary source of state funding for local housing and homelessness programs, should be strengthened.

“This year’s Out of Reach report shows that despite rising wages, cooling inflation, and low unemployment, low-wage workers and other renters continue to struggle with the high cost of rent,” said Diane Yentel, national coalition president and CEO, in a release.

U-Haul has top states, cities of origin Where are new Columbus residents moving from?

She urged Congress to tackle the housing affordability crisis, as it impacts the whole country, not just Ohio.

“Addressing the challenge requires long-term federal investments in affordable housing. As evidenced during the COVID-19 pandemic, federal policies and resources play a pivotal role in establishing a robust housing safety net, preventing evictions and homelessness, and mitigating housing instability among renters with the lowest incomes,” Yentel said. “Likewise, federal renter protections are needed to ensure decent, safe, and accessible living conditions for tenants around the country.”

dking@dispatch.com

@DanaeKing

Source link

Click to comment

Ohio

Ohio woman sentenced in $775,000 Medicaid scheme

Published

1 hour ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

COLUMBUS — A Lake County woman was sentenced this morning to jail time and ordered to pay $775,000 in restitution for fraudulently billing Medicaid, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced. “She inflated her earnings through brazen fraud, but her scheme burst wide open when our investigators got the case,” Yost said. “Cheating taxpayers comes with […]

Source link

Ohio

‘Catastrophic’ Ohio farm fire kills 6,000 hogs and pigs, officials say

Published

13 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

‘Catastrophic’ Ohio farm fire kills 6,000 hogs and pigs, officials say

A wind-swept blaze at an Ohio hog farm complex caused “catastrophic” damage and left thousands of pigs dead, fire officials said, marking another devastating barn inferno contributing to the deaths of millions of animals in recent years.

The massive fire occurred on Wednesday, Feb. 25, at Fine Oak Farms in Union Township, Madison County, located west of Ohio’s capital of Columbus, according to the Central Townships Joint Fire District. Fire crews received a report of a barn fire shortly before 12 p.m. local time.

The incident was later upgraded to a commercial structure fire after Chief Brian Bennington observed a “large column of smoke visible from a distance” and requested additional resources. Multiple local fire departments, along with several other emergency agencies, were called to the scene.

“What our crews encountered upon arrival was a very difficult and heartbreaking incident,” Bennington said in a statement on Feb. 26.

The fire chief described the facility as a large farm complex used for hog production consisting of five large agricultural buildings, including four that housed about 7,500 hogs. When crews arrived at the scene, they found two of the barns engulfed in flames, Bennington said.

Crews were challenged by windy conditions that significantly impacted fire suppression efforts, according to Bennington. Three barns were destroyed in the fire, and about 6,000 hogs and pigs were killed.

Firefighters saved one barn and about 1,500 hogs, the fire chief added. No injuries were reported in the incident.

Bennington highlighted the assistance of the farming community throughout Madison and Clark counties, as multiple farmers responded with water trucks to help with water supply efforts. “Rural Ohio’s agricultural community is tight-knit, and they truly step up when one of their own is in need,” he said.

The incident remains under investigation, and the Ohio State Fire Marshal’s Office will determine the fire’s cause and origin. Bennington said there is no suspicion of arson and no ongoing threat to the public at this time.

‘Rapidly changing fire behavior conditions’

Heavy smoke from the fire could be seen for miles, and Bennington said first-arriving units were met with fire conditions coming from the opposite side of the hog farm complex.

The fire chief noted that the incident required extensive water-shuttle operations due to rural water-supply limitations in the area. Crews attempted to cut the fire off by deploying multiple handlines and using an aerial device, but “faced extremely challenging conditions throughout the incident,” according to Bennington.

Sustained winds of about 20 mph with gusts up to 35 mph accelerated the fire’s spread, Bennington said. The high winds made it “extremely difficult” to contain forward fire progression and created “rapidly changing fire behavior conditions” across the agricultural complex, he added.

After about four to five hours, the fire was contained by fire personnel from four different counties, according to the fire chief.

“Unfortunately, the fire resulted in catastrophic damage to the business,” Bennington said in an earlier statement on Feb. 25. “A significant portion of the agricultural structures were destroyed.”

Latest major fire to impact an Ohio hog farm

The incident at Fine Oak Farms is the latest major fire to cause significant damage to an Ohio hog farm in recent years.

In August 2024, about 1,100 pigs were killed in Versailles, a village about 50 miles northwest of Dayton, Ohio, according to data from the nonprofit Animal Welfare Institute. In March 2022, about 2,000 hogs died in a barn fire at Kenneth Scholl Hog Farm in Brown Township, just west of Columbus.

Before the fire at Fine Oak Farms, the Animal Welfare Institute reported that other barn fires in Ohio this year killed 162 sheep, horses, cows, chickens, and other animals.

Hundreds of thousands of animals killed in barn fires each year

Data from the Animal Welfare Institute shows that hundreds of thousands of animals are killed in barn fires across the country each year. Since 2013, over 9 million farm animals have been killed in barn fires, according to the organization.

As of Feb. 26, the Animal Welfare Institute reported that 118,738 farm animals have died in U.S. barn fires this year, including the incident at Fine Oak Farms. The majority of farm animals killed were chickens in separate incidents in North Carolina and Georgia in January, and another incident in Missouri earlier this month.

“Most fatal barn fires occurred in colder states, particularly the Upper Midwest and the Northeast. New York, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Illinois had the highest number of barn fires, respectively,” according to the organization. “The amount of cold weather a state experienced appeared to be a greater factor in the prevalence of barn fires than the intensity of a state’s animal agriculture production.”

In an updated report on farm animal deaths due to barn fires in 2025, the Animal Welfare Institute said more than 2.53 million farm animals were killed in barn fires from 2022 to 2024. The organization noted that the high death toll was “driven primarily” by fires at large operations that housed several thousand to over 1 million farm animals.

The majority of deaths in these incidents during that period, over 98%, were farmed birds, such as chickens and turkeys, according to the Animal Welfare Institute. But in 2023, a massive fire at a west Texas dairy farm became the single deadliest event involving livestock in the state’s history and the deadliest cattle fire in America in at least a decade.

18,000 head of cattle perished in the fire at the South Fork Dairy farm near Dimmitt, Texas. At the time, Roger Malone, who is the former mayor of Dimmitt, called the incident “mind-boggling.”

“I don’t think it’s ever happened before around here. It’s a real tragedy,” Malone said.

Contributing: Rick Jervis, USA TODAY; Shahid Meighan, Columbus Dispatch

Source link

Ohio

Ohio’s LaRose pushes back on voter fraud critics, Democrats

Published

1 day ago

February 26, 2026

Press Room

Ohio’s LaRose pushes back on voter fraud critics, Democrats

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose discussed voter fraud and Ohio’s efforts to prevent it during a recent radio appearance.

LaRose appeared on “The Bill Cunningham” radio show, where he defended the state’s efforts to minimize voter fraud. A clip posted on X shows audio of LaRose arguing that policies aimed at preventing voter fraud are necessary even though cases are rare.

Here’s what to know.

Secretary of State Frank LaRose says voter fraud in Ohio is rare, compares prevention efforts to TSA security

In the clip, LaRose says that Democrats claim voter fraud is rare, and should be ignored.

“The left claims that voter fraud is rare, so we should just ignore it,” he said. “Well, airplane hijackings are also rare — we don’t abolish the TSA. The reason why we keep voter fraud rare in states like Ohio because we do these very things that they’re trying to take away from me.”

LaRose announced the inaugural meeting of the new Ohio Election Integrity Commission, which replaces what he called the flawed Ohio Elections Commission, in January 2026. The new committee, he says, will be used in “enforcing Ohio’s election laws, reviewing alleged violations, and ensuring accountability in matters relating to voting.”

In October 2025, LaRose said that he forwarded more than 1,000 cases of voter fraud to the U.S. Department of Justice. The cases involved 1,084 noncitizen individuals who appear to have registered to vote unlawfully in Ohio, and 167 noncitizens who appear to have also cast a ballot in a federal election since 2018.

In February 2026, President Donald Trump said Republicans should “nationalize” elections. He also accused Democrats of bringing migrants into the United States to illegally vote, a claim that is not backed by evidence, USA TODAY reports.

Voter fraud in the U.S. is considered rare nationwide, according to NPR, but there are still debates from both political sides on how frequently it occurs.

What is voter fraud?

Electoral fraud is defined as illegally interfering with the process of an election, according to Ballotpedia. This includes in-person voter fraud, absentee or mail ballots and illegal voter suppression.

Criminal penalties can include fines or imprisonment for up to five years, according to U.S. code. In Ohio, election interference can carry a felony of the fourth degree, according to Ohio Code.

Voter fraud is often a topic of debate among Democrats and Republicans, where organizations such as the conservative Heritage Foundation maintains a database claiming to show nearly 1,500 cases of election fraud since the year 2000.

Meanwhile, research by law professor Justin Leavitt published in 2014 found 31 cases of in-person voter fraud among billions of ballots cast from 2000–2014, according to Ballotpedia.

Source link