Hilltop Housing Study

Columbus, Ohio

The Hilltop neighborhood is a dense, diverse, single-family neighborhood just three miles west of Downtown Columbus. As Downtown and other neighborhoods in Columbus experience renewed investment and growth, the Hilltop has continued to struggle with the impacts of the foreclosure crisis, and a decades-long history of disruptions to the fabric of the community. In this context, the Mayor identified the Hilltop as a focus area for quality of life investments and neighborhood planning.

Our Approach

As part of the community-driven Envision Hilltop planning process, Development Strategies was hired by the Neighborhood Design Center and the City of Columbus to analyze the local housing market and create a strategic vision for housing in the Hilltop. This housing strategy offers a market-based investment and policy framework for improving housing conditions, raising neighborhood quality of life, and advancing economic opportunity for the Hilltop’s residents.

Understanding the scale of stabilization needs was a critical part of the process. Development Strategies used feasibility analysis to identify the subsidy needs and appropriate tools for reinvesting in the existing housing stock and the development of new, quality mixed-income housing. This typology-based approach helped inform the scope, location, and types of housing investments needed to address the housing needs of current and future neighborhood residents.