Solving Ohio's Housing Shortage and Workforce Challenges: Senator Michele Reynolds Shares Her Vision

Housing scarcity meets economic opportunity in this compelling conversation with Ohio State Senator Michele Reynolds, District 3,  who brings a refreshing problem-solving approach to some of our region's most pressing challenges.

The senator doesn't mince words about Ohio's housing crisis – we're short approximately 200,000 housing units statewide, with property taxes skyrocketing 30-40% in many areas. Rather than imposing top-down solutions, Reynolds advocates for state government serving as a supportive partner to local communities through technical assistance, strategic planning support, and targeted grants. 

What makes Reynolds' approach particularly valuable is her recognition that housing and workforce development are fundamentally connected. "Homes are where jobs go at night," she explains, highlighting that economic growth requires both jobs and places for workers to live. As Ohio attracts major developments like Intel's semiconductor facility and Anduril Industries, Manufacturer of Autonomous systems and weapons – projects bringing thousands of high-quality jobs – the housing component becomes even more crucial.

Reynolds advocates for earlier career exploration in K-12 education and stronger industry-education partnerships. She celebrates programs like Amgen's pharmaceutical training course at Columbus State, which creates direct pathways from education to employment. Reynolds also champions looking beyond traditional talent pools, emphasizing opportunities for disabled Ohioans, veterans, and returning citizens from incarceration.

Website:

https://www.ohiosenate.gov/members/michele-reynolds

Transcript

Introduction to Central Ohio Matters

Speaker 1 0:01

Welcome to Central Ohio Matters, the podcast where we delve into the issues that shape Central Ohio's future. Each episode features in-depth conversations with local leaders, visionaries and changemakers driving progress in our region. These conversations offer insights into the challenges our communities face and the solutions being crafted to move them forward. Here are your hosts Michelle Gatchel and Ryan Rivers them forward.

Speaker 2 0:24

Here are your hosts Michelle Gatchel and Ryan Rivers. Welcome to Central Ohio Matters. We have a great episode for you this week. We have Senator Michelle Reynolds with us and Ryan she is doing so many. She's on great committees about things that we've been talking about, from affordable housing to workforce, and I thought she'd be a great person for us to talk to.

Speaker 3 0:49

Absolutely.

Speaker 4 0:50

Well, thank you both for having me Wonderful to be here. I am truly a public servant and someone who really likes to solve problems, so I come at public service from just a desire to solve problems and lean in. So, yes, happy to be a guest on your show today.

Housing Crisis and Supply Issues

Speaker 3 1:10

Well, Senator Reynolds, you've taken the lead here on housing. What are some of the challenges right now that we're facing in Ohio in regards to housing?

Speaker 4 1:19

Well, I would say, ryan, that we are experiencing sort of a housing crisis. If you will, across the state of Ohio, prior to even Intel coming to Ohio, we already were down about 54,000 units of housing. But now, because Ohio has done some things right by being an economic developer and economic engine, bringing more jobs to the state, we are down even that, much more, I would say in closer to 200,000 units, and that has been a big challenge. And, as you know, with inflationary pressures, it's just expensive to live anywhere. You know the houses that used to be more affordable. Now it's just unaffordable.

Speaker 4 2:09

And so we're experiencing that across the state, differently in our urban counties than our rural counties, but both of them are a challenge. We're realizing that we need more units of housing. So the answer to this problem is to actually have more supply. We just don't have enough supply for the people who currently live in Ohio and the ones that are coming to Ohio for the great jobs that we are having in the state. So that has been a perfect storm and because of that, we're experiencing very, very high prices in the market, but also property taxes are just out of control. So anyone who owns a home knows that their property taxes have increased some 30 to 40 percent, and we're pricing people out of their homes, which should not be happening, and so we definitely have to solve this problem.

Speaker 3 3:00

What are the potential solutions that are being looked at or considered?

Speaker 4 3:23

What are the potential across Ohio, in our urban corridors, our suburbs and rural? We did a tour last General Assembly. We went around the state, visiting each of the various areas and regions, to actually understand the scope of the problem and what's already being done, and then to look at what role the state should be playing. So one thing that you have to understand is that housing is a very local issue, and what we do need to be doing is prioritizing housing in Ohio, but what we don't need to be doing is telling our local folks what to do. You know, this is a home rule state, so we have to work alongside each other to make sure that we can address this problem. So the posture that the state is taking is to be a good partner to actually help with the supports that are needed for a local community to be able to solve their own problem, and some of that looks like maybe a carrot and stick approach being able to provide technical assistance as it relates to zoning codes, as it relates to their strategic plans, but also grant assistance to be able to do some of the things that they need to do with respect to developing more housing in their community.

Speaker 4 4:41

So there's a whole host of things also trying to alleviate property taxes. Trying to make sure that folks that are already homeowners aren't priced out of their homes. Trying to give rental assistance. Trying to also look at eviction record ceilings not necessarily ceiling bona fide evictions, but those that are just filed on people who may have you know, may have been delinquent on their rent. It's been a filing, but once it got worked out, that still stayed on their record.

Speaker 4 5:13

So looking at trying to remove some barriers so that people can continue to live in their housing or at least move on Infrastructure in the rural counties. It's expensive to live as well because there's not a lot of development out in the rural counties and it's a slower growth area, but because there's not more housing, it's more expensive. So looking at what we can do in the rural counties as well. So there's really a lot to tackle this problem and the good news is that we're focused on it now in the General Assembly and there are legislators who are committed to helping work together with our local communities to solve this problem, and so I'm just happy that we're focused, we're putting a lens on it.

Workforce Development and Education

Speaker 3 6:01

Well, in the housing issue, this isn't just here in Ohio, it's across the country. But how do we, as far as Ohio, I guess, ease of business compared to other states as far as building we are home rules. So you do have different, you know, layers, entities and zoning. How do we stack up on the competitive side to other states as far as that ease of business and getting homes built?

Speaker 4 6:28

So I mean we're a leader when it comes to being an economic engine and bringing people to Ohio for jobs and job creation. But you know everybody's struggling at. You know inflation is a national problem. So, like you said, you know everybody is suffering this problem and everybody's trying to figure out solutions. But here in Ohio, like you said, we are a home rule state, so we're not in a position where we want to be telling our local folks what to do as it relates to this problem. But we also need to understand that if we really want to have the jobs here and people be successful in those jobs, homes are where jobs go to at night. People don't just fly in and work and then go home on a drone somewhere into another community. So that is part of workforce development as well, and we cannot have housing apart from economic development. They are tied, they should be together, and so I think once we realize that, we'll do a much better job.

Speaker 4 7:34

Now I do know that there are cities like Austin, texas that's being very, very, you know out front with some really good policies of being more flexible. And we can innovate here in Ohio too, like you know, with technology, with manufactured housing, where housing is built like more in the warehouse and delivered on the land. We're not talking mobile homes, but we're talking about, you know, manufactured housing that really looks nice and can fit in with the neighborhood. 3d printing accessory dwelling units. You know, manufactured housing that really looks nice and can fit in with the neighborhood. 3d printing accessory dwelling units, being able to, you know, build those mother-in-law suites again in your own backyard.

Speaker 4 8:14

We're talking about how can we be a little bit more thoughtful around taking care of our own housing where it makes sense, even in-field development. We have some vacant lots, working with our land banks to bring those back on the market, renovating some of our old blighted housing that we currently have, which is, you know, pretty expensive when it relates to how the building code is now, but looking at how we can maybe do some things that make some common sense. But also how can we and help communities work together, different cities to come together and maybe share resources so that we can get more done, instead of everybody doing their little piece in a vacuum. So that's what we're looking at, and I know Ohio can do it, because Ohio is a leader on many fronts, and so that's the posture that we're taking is to you know, to be a champion in this housing space as well.

Speaker 3 9:12

The Department of Development put out a 2050 population projection and for a lot of our rural counties showing a decline. How much does housing do you think does that play into as far as helping those areas and seeing the growth stay or hopefully grow versus, you know, avoiding that decrease in population?

Speaker 4 9:34

So I say it's a tale of two states. You know, ohio is growing very, very rapidly in our high growth areas, and those are the areas where we need to zone in. We need to zone in more housing, more supply of housing, but our rural areas are areas where we may need to preserve some of our land for agricultural purposes. Like our farmers and our you know growing our food, we can't continue to take our fertile farmland and put you know things on it. Like you know, we have solar fields, but we might want to rethink that and do them on more of our brownfields. So maybe it makes sense to zone out in areas like that, but truly that's up to the local communities In order to make housing more affordable, though, the answer to the test is more of it, because that's about supply and demand.

Intel Project and Economic Growth

Speaker 4 10:30

That's just simple economics. So the more supply you have, the more it'll drive down cost. Right now we have scarcity and so, but we can't just take the posture that, oh, just do that in the cities. Well, if that's the case, then it's going to be more expensive in the rural area. So we still need to have a balance and we need smart growth, and that's going to take everybody coming and working together.

Speaker 2 10:58

You've kind of mentioned the tie-in with the workforce and our housing. Let's talk about the workforce, because I feel like I want to say Ohio is just waking up to the fact that we need to start K-12. Like we need to be thinking about this K-12. You know what are the areas that you're finding really need to grow here?

Speaker 4 11:22

What are the areas that you're finding really need to grow here? So I'm pleased that we in the General Assembly are recognizing exactly what you said and the governor just did his state of the state address today and, you know, definitely underscored the need to make sure that we're preparing our kids for the jobs not just of tomorrow, of today, I mean, we have more jobs here than we have kids in high school, and so we definitely need to prepare them. And I think what it's going to take is really working with industry and getting industry partnered with our schools very early on, which we're starting to see a lot of that happening. Getting industry partnered with our schools so that they can inform us what skill development they need and you know what they need in terms of a workforce for legacy building. But also we need to kind of shift the pendulum back to vocational skills and career tech.

Speaker 4 12:23

You know, in my day it was all about college, college, college, and you got to go to college and I'm you know college is great.

Speaker 4 12:31

I mean I went to college, I went to college five times, I loved it so much and I have five college degrees, working on a sixth, but my kids aren't going to do that.

Speaker 4 12:42

They don't want to do it, they're like don't even put that on me. So today's day and age it's all about skill, skill, skills, and so we have to push people you know to. You know you can get a good paying job in Ohio, right here in Ohio, if you would just discipline yourself to even go to some of these vocational education programs. And I think that we need to help our young people start out very early on in career exploration, taking assessments, getting them involved in learning about all the different jobs opportunities that are out here so that they can explore very early that are out here, so that they can explore very early, and that way we don't have certain trades just go away because nobody's exposed them to it. So I just think it's starting younger but also seeing value in our community career colleges, our career tech programs, in working a trade, a skilled trade or some type of vocational program. I think there's value in all of that.

Speaker 2 13:45

Amgen is a pharmaceutical company here and I know that they've worked with Columbus State to actually do I think it's an eight-week course. It might be a little longer to that very thing. Kids right out of high school can sign up for this class class and then they can start working in a pharmaceutical lab. Are we seeing more of those kinds of things?

Military Battalion Bill and Women's History

Speaker 4 14:07

too. Yes, we're seeing a lot of that, and those are programs that we really love to support is that we're seeing the industry come together with our schools to do programs like that, and so what our business community is doing is they're partnering with these nonprofit organizations or, you know, community colleges or high schools, if you will and they're letting them know look, these are the skills that we need developed, and here's even resources they may give them. You know the information that they need to develop a curriculum so that they can help teach that, and when they do that, they'll even provide scholarship money. All of that so that folks can get even community people. They can get these skills and then after just a few weeks it might just be eight to 12 weeks they're able to then employ those individuals at least at an entry level position in their company. So I love to see that public private partnership, and that's what we need more of.

Speaker 2 15:11

So how do we encourage our industries here in Ohio to do things like this?

Speaker 4 15:16

Well, trust me, they're tax cuts or whatever. No, they are encouraged. They're coming to us saying, look, we need a workforce. And so they're the ones actually driving the conversation and saying what can we do? Because we're noticing that you know, for instance, like even our farm industry, kids, quite frankly, you know, if their parents were farmers, a lot of times they're not trying to continue the farm. So what happens when you have nobody who wants to farm anymore? I mean, that's kind of devastating, right, and so you know, then we, we lose that.

Speaker 4 15:55

But there's other trades as well.

Speaker 4 15:57

Like when I got to the statehouse I didn't realize some of the trades that are just very, very important, like, for instance, firefighters, or even there's a organization that builds, that it's in the construction trades and it's aggregates and aggregates are rocks, and I just never had, you know, enough appreciation or respect for a rock.

Speaker 4 16:21

I mean, it's just a rock, right, but rocks are what you use in construction to build these buildings. So the buildings that we see all around us are from rocks, but kids don't know that. So what this industry has done is they've put together these kits rock kits where they're actually teaching kids the value of a rock and that this actually leads to a construction job and a trade and they're trying to get kids interested very early because they need people in those jobs to continue to build in our construction industry. So I think it's very important. But they're the ones coming to us and knocking on our door and saying, hey, we're losing valuable um people and skills because folks are retiring and nobody's behind them. So we're helping them get into our schools and helping to supplement that.

Speaker 2 17:11

You know, you mentioned Intel. And I know there's been question with things going on right now is when they're coming, if they're coming. What's happening on right now is when they're coming, if they're coming, what's happening. But a lot of money was put into that area to build a foundation for workforce and affordable housing to come around there, correct? Yes, so is this a model for us for other cities to kind of see hey, hey, you know, the future is development housing. You know how do we look at this?

Speaker 4 17:46

So Ohio is truly at the forefront by having Intel come and when they, when we do get that project complete, it's such a game changer, it's a force, it's a force multiplier, and not only does it put Ohio on the map but it puts Ohio on the world stage because we're building more things here that the whole United States needs. Quite frankly, we won't have to go offshore to get our needs met, and so a lot of that's happening and that's happening right here in Ohio. It's the Silicon heartland of the whole entire United States and it puts the Midwest as a, you know, a true contender. So I'm very proud of that and we should all be very proud of that legacy here in Ohio. And you know Intel, I mean they're doing a great job. I understand that timelines.

What's Next for Senator Reynolds

Speaker 4 18:38

You know whenever you're dealing with construction there's going to be things that you don't foresee or contemplate. This is a multi-billion dollar project and a lot has been invested. But a lot has already been accomplished and I can't wait to see it done and the 3,000 jobs that are anticipated to come to Ohio will come to Ohio. But even in my district, in Pickaway County, we just landed Ohio's historic Andral, which is going to be defense logistics. It's drones, and we're gonna be able to supply drones throughout the US. That's gonna help us with our military and protecting us from you know enemies, you know abroad, and so that's right here in ohio. We should be very proud about that. It's going to bring over 4 000 jobs to ohio.

Speaker 3 19:34

there's never been a project in history to bring more jobs and that's right here in ohio well, and I can only imagine the housing as we talked about the housing impact too, that the need that's going to be around that project now.

Speaker 4 19:47

Absolutely, and so that's why this matters, that's why we have to talk about it. It has to be a focused effort. It has to be us working alongside not only our local communities, but also our business community. Everybody has to chip in. It has to be public-private partnerships, and everybody has to do their part, and so that's what I'm here to make sure we do.

Speaker 2 20:11

So you heard the governor today, Are there things that you're excited about? Let's start there. Yeah.

Speaker 4 20:20

I was very excited to hear about, just kind of his, his encouragement to look at untapped workforce.

Speaker 4 20:32

He talked about our disabled community and how you know they are an untapped workforce.

Speaker 4 20:38

They want to work and there's a lot of use and value that they can add, especially with some of the industries that you know may be underserved right now, and with adaptive assistance they can work and so let's give them a chance.

Speaker 4 20:57

But my heart was really, really, you know, glowing when he talked about the reentry population, because I myself have a program that houses formerly incarcerated men and women. I've been doing that for over 25 years and so I believe in returning citizens being able to come and, you know, be restored citizens and live productive lives, as long as they're given that opportunity. So he just made a clarion call and said, hey, give them a chance, they want to work, and so it only makes sense to me that if we have workforce challenges throughout the state of Ohio, that we would look to populations like our veteran community, who can, who can work as well, and people want to work and people find dignity and work. So let's, let's, you know, look a little deeper, dig a little deeper and realize that they're all of us are Ohioans and as long as you paid your debt to society or as long as you are doing the right things now that you deserve an opportunity to move forward.

Speaker 2 22:05

Yeah, fantastic. I want to talk about two things before we wrap up that you bills that you introduced. Tell us a little bit about your bill for the all women battalion in World War One.

Speaker 4 22:21

Yeah, so this was a bill called the 6888 Central Postal Battalion, called the 6888 Central Postal Battalion, and 6888 was an all women, women of color battalion that was deployed during World War I believe it was World War II and what happened is that during that time there was very low morale in the military.

Speaker 4 22:51

We were at war and it was because the soldiers were not getting their mail. It was so backlogged that families weren't able to stay connected, and I mean so literally. There was someone that went to the first lady of the time and said, hey, we got to do something because families are not hearing from their, from the soldiers, and soldiers are not hearing from their families and we are. It's it's impacting how we're performing in the in the war. The morale was so low.

Speaker 4 23:24

So there was this all female battalion who had never been deployed. Um, they were just in the military and they were all women of color. So, um, during that time obviously you know it was a lot of racial tension, a lot of barriers and things like that, just even being a woman in the military. But, um, this, um, this battalion was deployed over to England, uh, to straighten out the mail, and they had to straighten out 17,000 pieces of mail and they gave them like six months to do it. But prior to that there was a men's battalion that was given that same um duty and it didn't happen. It failed and I don't know if it was that they didn't want to do it, I'm sure they could have done it, but it didn't happen.

Speaker 4 24:14

And so they sent this, this all women of color battalion to do it. They gave them six months. It was really kind of a setup to fail, um. You know, they had to convert like this old school building that had like no heat. They literally worked around the clock, 24 hours. They broke it up into three shifts, so while one worked, one slept and they were able to sort out all of that mail that was backlogged and, in some of the worst conditions, rat infested, no heat. It was terrible. But they were able to not only get it done in record time, they got it done in three months instead of six, and it was the morale went up to the morale.

Speaker 4 24:57

The morale went up. The slogan was no male low morale, and so the morale went right back up and they got their respect and so, but the story kind of faded like nobody had ever heard of them until recently. Our US congressman awarded them one of the highest medals of honor, and it was for the 6888 Battalion, and the reason this is so significant for Ohio is because the captain of the battalion, which was Captain Charity Adams, is from here, from the Dayton area, and she led 850 women in this battalion. And so in honor of her legacy and of course it's Women's History Month we wanted to make sure that we recognize March 9th as 6888 Central Postal Battalion Day in Ohio 6888 Central Postal Battalion Day in Ohio, nice, and Tyler Perry actually did a thing on Netflix about them too.

Speaker 2 25:55

Yes, it's a great movie. I know I've heard this story.

Speaker 4 25:59

Yes, it's a great movie on Netflix, and then I also, with my co-sponsor, senator Craig, we did a documentary film watching of it, which is a little different from the movie Tyler Perry did a great job at. The documentary is hands down even better because it, you know, really told the story. But it's great, and so I'm very proud to be able to have gotten that legislation through the Senate and now it's over in the House to have gotten that legislation through the Senate and now it's over in the House.

Speaker 2 26:38

Fantastic. And the other one that you introduced is Joanne Davidson, the first woman Speaker of you know the House, a woman that I actually had as a host for one of my television shows I used to produce. You made her birthday a recognized day in Ohio.

Speaker 4 26:52

Tell us about that yeah, so I'm very honored to be able to bring that bill to the senate. Speaker Davidson was very, very special to me. I was. I consider myself one of her legacies. I'm one of 400 plus women that went through the Joanne Davidson Ohio Leadership Institute and I graduated in the 2017 class. It actually stopped, I think, in 2021, 2022, something like that and she passed away recently obviously last year but she was my constituent as well, so she lived in Reynoldsburg, ohio, and, as you know, she was the first and only woman female speaker of the house. We've never had a woman speaker since, and so what a way to honor her legacy by recognizing Speaker Joanne Davidson Day in Ohio on her birthday, which is in September, and I was just happy that I was able to bring forth that bill in her honor. It really blessed her family and, of course, all of the women, but not only the women. There's so many people's lives that she touched, so many that she impacted, and she did all of this and more in her retirement age. So you know she didn't become a legislator until she was pretty much retired. She was in her elderly years when she just started getting busy. So I just appreciate all that she's brought to Ohio. I wouldn't be in the state house if it weren't for Speaker Davidson.

Speaker 4 28:29

I didn't know anything about politics when I first got into the Institute. I've only been doing this since 2017. And so it was her influence. I remember when I first went to the Institute. I mean, I was interested in politics, but I didn't even know what a central committee was at the time, and so I learned real quick.

Speaker 4 28:50

I was a very quick study and I remember she would always say, um, that you know, women, we may not be able to come right through the front door, but the side door is still an entrance, and that always stuck with me. She said, because you know, a lot of times men, they will run for office, but women have to be asked to run, and, um, and so we don't usually just step up and say I'm going to do that. We know we can, but sometimes we just have to get that little push and someone say I think you got the it factor, you can do this. And so I caught the bug very, very quickly. I got really inspired, and so it was just an honor that I could step forward and do this for all of the people who love and cherish her memory in Ohio.

Speaker 2 29:41

So we're out of time, but I wanted to real quick find out what's next for you and your committee. Is what should we be watching for?

Speaker 4 29:48

real quick find out what's next for you and your committee is what should we be watching for? Well, I'm certainly as the chair of housing and vice chair of judiciary and vice chair of workforce development and a host of other committees, but those are my three leadership capacities. I'm going to be focused around in the budget trying to really move policy forward in those areas, so you can look out for that. But I'm really kind of open. If there is a problem that needs to be solved in the community, I'm the girl Reynolds gets results. So please reach out to my office if there's something that I need, that needs my attention.

Speaker 2 30:31

Well, thank you so much for joining us on Central Ohio Matters, and hopefully we'll have you back, because it sounds like you're involved in a lot of things that we need to be talking about.

Speaker 4 30:39

Yes, ma'am. Thank you, Michelle, and thank you Ryan for having me. Thank you for the conversation.

Speaker 1 30:45

Thank you for listening to this episode of Central Ohio Matters. Be sure to like, share and download. We cover government policies, health care challenges, housing and business developments, transportation solutions, education and innovation. If you know of a good story we should be talking about, go to the radio station website and fill out a contact form Directed to Michelle Gatchel, host of Central Ohio Matters. Thank you,