A letter from Joe Motil
Hello everyone,
I believe that some of you who have read my Facebook page and Twitter account are already aware of City Council's co-opting parts of my Affordable Housing proposals and that of our Fair Housing ballot initiative. The timing of this Press Conference was to provide Ginther an opportunity to claim at his Tuesday State of the City Address that he and City Council are finally going to take steps to address our affordable housing crisis. The attached Press Release was sent about two hours after City Council's Press Conference on Thursday March 16, 2023. The key points of our proposals that were co-opted were:
Creating a Department of Fair Housing and they are calling it an Office of Fair Housing.
We required a Rental Registration they named theirs a Rental Registry.
I proposed a 12-point affordable housing plan and they proposed a 12-point plan.
I proposed an Empty Homes Tax, and they are calling theirs a Vacant and Foreclosure Registry.
I proposed that landlords give tenants 6 months advanced notice on rent increases, they proposed a 180-day notice.
My proposal provides free public legal representation for tenants who face court evictions. Their proposal claims they will create a more robust legal representation team.
This is all evidenced by the fact that Councilwoman Shayla Favor had the language of our ballot initiative in her lap as part of two Zoom meetings with our Fair Housing ballot initiative committee on July 12, 2022 and a summary of the ballot initiative from a Zoom meeting held on Dec. 15, 2022. Our Fair Housing ballot initiative team also met with President Hardin and Shayla Favor on June 29, 2022 and they had access to our ballot initiative language then as well.
On a Facebook post of mine on February 12, 2022, I discussed among other things about my proposal of creating an Empty Homes Tax. On March 15, 2022, I sent a press release to the media entitled, "Mayor Ginther’s State of the City Address Lacks Housing Solutions and Opportunities" which in part reads, "The city of Columbus should also enact legislation to create a Rent Control policy and an Empty Homes Excise Tax." On June 27, 2022, I wrote a response to Ginther’s comments on his personal Mayor's Facebook page. I stated in part, “I have proposed an Empty Homes Tax that will help force investors who are sitting on boarded up properties, to start rehabbing them and getting them on the market. I have many more tools in the toolbox that can help our affordable housing crisis and not just marketing slogans, lip service and talking about opportunities and inclusiveness that you hear every day from our current mayor.” Columbus needs leaders and not plagiarists who steal the ideas of its citizens while the media gives all the credit to the mayor and city council. I am not going to allow them to get away with this but our campaign is going to need your help. I have no doubt that this is just the beginning of what to expect up until November 7th. Bring it on! The People's Mayor, Joe Motil
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