“This is in every community, far and wide.”

Amy Riegel, executive director of the Coalition on Housing and Homelessness in Ohio, was speaking Monday about homelessness, poverty and the shortage of affordable housing in the Buckeye State.

The number of good paying jobs has not kept up with the soaring cost of housing here. So, “for every 100 extremely low income individuals looking for housing, there’s 40 units available,” according to Riegel.

Extremely low income is $27,485 or less for a family of four. In Ohio, 28% of renter households are extremely low income, and there is a shortage of 267,000 rental homes that are affordable and accessible to those people. But the problem is not just for those lowest earners.

“In the state of Ohio you’d have to earn $20.81 an hour to afford a modest two-bedroom apartment,” Reigel said.

Riegel also noted the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows of the top ten jobs occupied by Ohio workers, only two pay enough per hour for those workers to afford the modest two-bedroom apartment.

And, again, that’s assuming those apartments or homes are even available.

Washington-Morgan Community Action Fiscal Officer Jessica Gum said it typically takes more than 60 days for people with vouchers from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to find a unit to live in. And, there are nearly 300 people on the voucher waiting list through Community Action here.

Compounding the problem is that, according to Robin Bozian, Washington County Homeless Project chairperson, landlords are charging — for example — $450 a month for just a room, but asking tenants to shower at the homeless drop-in center, and asking those tenants to pay $150 per month in utilities.

“People are taking advantage,” she said.

Only a few local landlords are willing to take a chance on those with criminal backgrounds, substance use issues or mental health issues, according to Bozian. Our region is not alone on that front, either.

We can’t have it both ways. We can’t price out and otherwise exclude potential tenants, we can’t fail to encourage developers to build affordable housing, and then turn around and complain that too many people are living without a roof over their heads and daring to be visible in our midst.

Policy makers must shift gears toward incentivizing the building of fair, affordable housing across the state. The alternative is figuring out how to support those individuals and families who are forced to survive any way they can.