The Housing Action Fund's  Mission:

Expand AHT’s capacity to further its mission in Franklin County by providing financing to AHT for investment in developments designed to:

• Create and preserve affordable rental housing
• Strengthen and stabilize neighborhoods
• Support working households, seniors and special needs populations

In 2017, the Affordable Housing Alliance of Central Ohio (AHACO)—a group of organizations that develop, operate, and fund affordable housing in central Ohio—conducted research that found that 54,000 Franklin County households, at or near the poverty level, pay more than half of their income for housing. Working with a Strategic Advisory Council comprised of banks, corporations, and philanthropic organizations, AHACO developed a bold plan to cut this gap in half over 10 years with supply-side and demand-side solutions.



The Housing Action Fund (the HAF/the Fund) enables financial institutions, corporations, foundations, and other investors to participate in implementing this plan to address the community’s pressing affordable housing needs. When possible, the HAF will enhance its own affordability requirements by aligning with public funds, philanthropic grants, and other resources to increase the affordability of housing financed by the Fund.

The HAF provides a flexible source of funds that will expand the resources available for investment in affordable housing development in Franklin County and is operated by The Affordable Housing Trust for Columbus and Franklin County (AHT). The Fund provides below-market loans to developers who commit to the Fund’s affordability criteria that will increase and preserve the number of affordable rental homes in Franklin County.

"The Affordable Housing Trust for Columbus and Franklin County is proud of our collaboration with the city, county and community partners establishing the Housing Action Fund,

which will leverage the community’s investments to build and preserve affordable housing."

~Robert Weiler, AHT Immediate Past Chair