For uh joining us for our uh hearing on the affordable housing bond package.

Um just gonna have a few opening remarks.

Just uh I'm really overwhelmed and grateful for how many folks have uh shown up today.

I think it speaks to the the interest and the power and the crises around housing that our community currently faces.

Uh time and time again, voters have said yes to investing in affordable housing, and last November they did so at an unprecedented level, approving a $500 million bond, the largest affordable housing commitment in our city's history.

That vote represents more than dollars.

It represents trust, and with that trust comes a responsibility to steward these funds carefully and transparently and in a way that has the greatest possible impact for the people who call Columbus home.

And what I've heard clearly during last year's election while talking with voters and community members and even uh candidates for office, including the colleague who is sitting next to me today, is that residents want to see a more open and transparent process for how these bond dollars are spent.

They want sharper strategies, more public input, and a willingness to think big about how we address our housing challenges.

That is why last year, late last year, I committed publicly to holding this hearing.

Today is part of a broader effort to do robust outreach through public hearings like this one and through a citywide survey to hear directly from residents and stakeholders across our housing ecosystem.

We wanted to create a space not just for experts and advocates, but for people most affected by these decisions.

At Council, we believe outcomes are stronger when the circle is wider, when more voices are invited in, and when we when lived experience is valued alongside technical expertise.

So today we are here to listen.

We will hear from Deputy Director Aaron Proster, from invited speakers and advocates, and from members of the public.

And just as importantly, we want to hear from everyday residents, people who know what it's like uh to rent an apartment in this city, to try to buy a first home, or to hold on to a home as costs rise around them.

And I want to be clear.

I come to this conversation with ideas, and some of them are big and audacious, but I want us to build more public and transparent process for allocating these funds and to pursue strategies that use every dollar as effectively as possible.

I want us to be laser focused on preventing displacement, whether driven by rent rising rents or skyrocketing property taxes or lack of housing supply.

I want to see our circle of partners expand, bring in minority and emerging developers, faith-based institutions, educational institutions and nonprofits that own land to be a part of the solution.

I want us to diversify the types of housing opportunities we invest in and to continue to push Columbus to innovate, including exploring models where the city is an early investor and a partner in projects.

But while the administration and city council can and will put forward ideas of our own, today is about partnership and hearing from the community.

This is this hearing is the beginning of a shared conversation to work alongside residents and stakeholders to craft a plan that truly lives up to the promise and the potential of this nearly half a billion dollar investment in our future.

So we are grateful that we have a standing room-only hearing.

Again, it speaks to the challenges that we have in front of us and our commitment to do so together.

That is why I am uh so grateful.

Um had to make uh at the beginning of this year was around committee assignments.

And um I knew right away what would the right decision was, even though uh it was hard for me to give it up.

Um to give up to give the housing chairmanship or chairwoman ship to Councilmember Ross.

Her long history uh and her deep uh commitment to making sure that folks are safe in their homes made her makes her the perfect fit.

And so I am honored to um co-host this hearing with you.

And so I'll turn the floor over to you, Madam Chair.

Thank you.

Um Council President Harden and thank you to all of you who are here today.

And I'm gonna tell you, I'm very nosy, so I listen to side conversations a lot, and I realize that what Mayor Coleman told me years ago is still true.

That the only person that people recognize in the streets is the mayor and the coach of Ohio State Buck Guys.

And so with that said, my name is Tiara Ross.

I am your newest council person.

If you did not know who I was, and I am so honored to be here today.

I'm honored to see so many of my friends who have been working in the housing space alongside me for so long, but I'm so honored to see residents of Poindexter here, community members here to offer insight on what we should be doing with this um historical investment that we will have the opportunity to steward in our community.

So thank you again to Council President Hardin, certainly for your vote of confidence in me chairing the housing committee.

I am truly honored to stand alongside so many committed leaders and who have dedicated themselves to the work of advancing equitable housing solutions in our city.

Today's hearing represents more than just a procedural step in advancing the housing bond initiative.

It reflects a collective commitment to transparency, to accountability, and intentional investment in the long-term support of the needs of our residents.

It is an opportunity to reaffirm our shared values and to demonstrate that we are serious about addressing one of the most pressing challenges facing our community, which is housing.

And now all of you are gonna look at Councilmember Bankston as he sits down.

Everybody welcome Councilmember Bankston to the panel.

Exactly.

First the first class of the evening.

I will say again what I said yesterday at the mayor's rollout of this investment framework, and that is that as we spend this these dollars, it is truly a value statement about who we are as a city and what we believe our residents deserve.

That in this city, housing is both a priority and a right, the accessibility of which should be afforded to every single resident in this community.

That housing is urgent work because the privilege of time that those of us who do this work may have is not a luxury that the folks that we serve have every day.

Housing is truly a life and death matter, and it is incumbent upon us to be successful in how we distribute and deploy these dollars.

So today is a very serious conversation, a conversation that I do not take for granted, and a conversation that I encourage all of you to engage in, not only with your brains, but also with your hearts.

It must be the single most important thing that we do as we deploy these dollars, which is to make sure that the voices of the voters who allowed us the opportunity to spend these dollars to ask for these bonds to sell these bonds are centered in how we deploy them.

So I am so so excited to see all of you here today.

I am honored to be able to serve all of you, to work alongside of you, and I think what I'm supposed to do is hand it over to Councilmember Bankston for remarks.

Um thank you, uh Housing Chair uh Ross.

I don't have any opening remarks.

I'm excited just to get it in uh to it and hear from residents and uh I was late because this is a packed house in here with nowhere to park out there, so that's why.