2025 State of the City Address
Published on April 16, 2025
Good evening, friends and neighbors.I am so grateful to be here with all of you tonight, standing shoulder to shoulder at this critical moment for our community and our future.
I want to thank everyone who opened things up this evening, including the amazing students of Fort Hayes, as well as Fort Hayes principal Dr. Milton Ruffin, Superintendent Dr. Angela Chapman and the members of the Columbus City School Board for hosting us here tonight.
Neighbors, the state of our city is strong. Thanks to community collaboration that is more vigorous than ever, an intentional use of our resources and a commitment to harnessing our region’s success to benefit everyone, we are driving change across our community’s top priorities: housing, safety, mobility and prosperity for our residents.
But our momentum can only be sustained, and accelerated, if we continue to work together to make our city even better.
I am so excited tonight because I know we share a vision for the future that is both impactful and inclusive, one that supports each of our neighbors and lifts up every corner of Columbus.
For progress to be transformative, it cannot be achieved alone or on behalf of a select few.
It is only through broad and sweeping collaboration — across neighborhoods, across generations and across a diverse range of backgrounds and experiences — that we will carry forward the hopes, dreams and aspirations of every Columbus resident.
This is what it means to engage through an equity lens – and that is why this work must and will continue.
So much is on the line, and there is still more to do. But know this: We will not simply accept outcomes and events as they unfold around us, deferring to chance, trends or the actions – or inaction – of others.
In the City of Columbus, we know who we are – what we believe in, what our values are, who we aspire to be, and what we are striving to become.
Our fate is our own – and this will never change, despite the discord and dissonance coming from our nation’s capital.
The next chapter of our city’s story will be written by us to ensure that every resident has access to housing they can afford, jobs that promote upward mobility, safe and vibrant neighborhoods and sustainable, reliable transit that gets them to the people and places they need to lead happy, healthy and fulfilling lives.We have the power to elevate the quality of life for everyone in this community — especially those who have historically been left out and left behind.
We are charting our collective course, right here and right now. And as we do, we will see to it that Columbus is a city that embraces its diversity and its differences.
After all, true prosperity is rooted in including and empowering others, and making the necessities of life available to all.
Together, we will seize the present to secure our future.
It is no secret that housing is one of the greatest challenges of the present moment. That's because Columbus is growing at an extraordinary rate – and with that growth comes extraordinary responsibility.
Over the next decade, we need to build 200,000 housing units across our region just to meet demand. And we need more housing of every type.However, this is not simply about the numbers; it’s about creating opportunities for families, fostering equity and building a city where everyone is able to thrive.
That is why this work is so important, and that is why we are so encouraged by our recent progress.
Last year, our city saw a remarkable increase in residential construction permits — up 14% compared to 2023. This expansion is expected to create more than 6,000 new housing units in our city, a welcome indicator that we’re headed in the right direction. Thanks to the city's Zone In initiative, and the hard work of staff at our Building and Zoning Services Department, we’ve cut timelines in half for re-zonings and building variances — getting new housing projects off the ground faster in an industry where time is money.
This is a huge win for our city, but especially for families who need a home now, but are being priced or pushed out by a competitive housing market.
That is why affordable housing is a central pillar of the Columbus Housing Strategy; and the voter-approved housing bonds that we passed in 2019 and 2022 have been particularly impactful. So far, our dollars have supported the construction of more than 4,000 new income-qualified affordable rental units, including 633 permanent supportive housing units, which are vital for individuals who have experienced homelessness and need extra support to stay housed.
And while it's clear that this dedicated funding stream has kicked our work into high gear, the need in our community is still great.
Tonight, I’m announcing that I will be placing a third Columbus affordable housing bond on the November ballot. I’m asking the residents of Columbus for their support to bond $500 million so we can keep this important progress going and build thousands of additional homes all without raising your taxes.
My bond package proposal will also include investments in fire stations and police substations, vehicles and equipment that keep our city running, parks and trails, roadway resurfacing, water and power infrastructure, and so much more.
I’ll be announcing the full details of this bond package next month.
But affordable housing bonds aren’t the only tool in our toolbox that we’re using to create the housing we need. We’ve also expanded the city’s housing tax incentive program to include all Columbus neighborhoods. Since 2019, this program has enabled the construction of nearly 14,500 new housing units, including 2,500 affordable housing units—incredibly important gains for this community. But with our housing shortage now at a crisis level, we’re redoubling our efforts to protect our residents who are being squeezed the most by this competitive housing market.
That is why the Building and Zoning Services Department will soon introduce a registry of vacant and foreclosed properties. Thanks to the advocacy of neighborhood and community leaders and the support of Columbus City Council, we’ll know exactly who is responsible for maintaining uninhabited properties in your neighborhood — and who we can hold accountable if a property falls into disrepair in order to protect safety and quality of life.This registry will go online by June first of this year.
BZS is also managing a new registry of property wholesalers – who are often referred to as “flippers” – to ensure ethical, transparent and responsible transactions when it comes to residential property wholesaling – an increasingly common practice we’re seeing throughout Columbus and across the nation. But this work also requires that the city step in and take decisive action where others so often fail or refuse to do so.
To that end, we created the city’s new Relocation Assistance Code, which is there to help renters who are forced to move out of their homes – often at a moment’s notice and due to no fault of their own, like when a boiler blows and knocks out heat to the building.
Now, Columbus landlords are required to cover relocation costs for tenants displaced by emergency vacate orders — placing responsibility where it belongs and easing the financial burden on residents who might otherwise struggle to secure housing on such short notice. Our goal is to keep our neighbors in their homes, to help them navigate crises in their lives, and prevent them from falling deeper into housing instability.
This summer, the City of Columbus will launch the Division of Housing Stability — a dedicated team focused on expanding our efforts to keep residents stably housed and ensure the long-term prosperity and well-being of this community. This expansion of the Department of Development will serve to prevent evictions, improve housing quality and ensure fair treatment for renters. We’ll employ a fair housing coordinator to protect renters from exploitation, advance our homelessness prevention programs, streamline our efforts to bolster tenants’ rights and guarantee access to legal counsel at Eviction Court for low-income households with minors.
Bringing this work to Columbus is a giant leap forward for this community, but we cannot ignore the bigger picture if we are truly going to address the rising cost of housing and create a region where everyone who wants to work in Central Ohio can afford to live here, too.
Creating new jobs and bringing workers to our region is a wonderful thing, but, if we’re growing our workforce without also building the housing we need to accommodate these folks, we risk worsening our regional housing crisis and driving housing costs even higher. Consider the numbers: From 2010 to 2020, our region built one new home for every two-and-a-half jobs that we created. In order to accommodate the growth we are experiencing and expect to continue, we need to be building at least one house for every new job our region creates — a one-to-one ratio. In Columbus, we’re certainly doing our fair share – and then some.
Remember those 200,000 housing units that need to be built within the next 10 years? I’m committing Columbus to bringing 100,000 of them to market, half of the region’s housing demand. As you saw moments ago, last year’s zoning code reforms unlocked the potential for the market to create an additional 88,000 housing units along key Columbus corridors over the next decade.
It’s a good start. But let me be clear: As much as we’ve accomplished, we cannot solve this alone. Columbus is just one part of a growing and dynamic region, and we need regional action to overcome this challenge. I am pleased to share that – right now, as we speak – the Central Ohio Regional Housing Coalition is convening hundreds of local government, business, academic and nonprofit leaders who will see to it that Central Ohio is an affordable place to live.
The coalition will be incubated at the Columbus Partnership and funded by both public and private dollars, leveraging our regionalism to our mutual advantage. This is just like when Columbus2020 was founded to create 150,000 new jobs in 10 years. But this time, we’re forming a new organization that will focus on building 200,000 homes in the next decade. By enlisting the business community, nonprofits and neighboring municipalities and jurisdictions to this very important cause, we’ll build the housing we need and improve housing stability for everyone in Central Ohio.
Investing in stable housing is critical to making Columbus residents safer and more secure. And safety, as we all know, is the cornerstone of thriving, prosperous neighborhoods.
I am very proud to report that, in 2024, we continued to make significant strides in reducing violent crime and strengthening community safety across our city. Homicides dropped by 17%, felonious assaults were down 25%, and the Columbus Division of Police achieved a homicide solve rate of 76%. And we continued to recover dangerous guns from the streets of our city – over 3,200 just last year.
Please join me in thanking Chief Elaine Bryant and the Columbus Division of Police for their amazing work in keeping us all safe.
And this year is off to a remarkable start. In the first quarter of 2025, homicides were down 37% over the progress we saw in 2024, and felonious assaults were down 15%.
Like so many of our most pressing endeavors, this success is rooted in trust and collaboration. Historic levels of public engagement have empowered our law enforcement officers to act swiftly and effectively. These stronger connections between our officers and the neighbors they serve have fostered a shared sense of responsibility for our city's safety. Tonight, I am asking all of you: Let’s keep this positive progress going. Let’s collaborate with the women and men of Columbus Police, and with our neighbors. Let’s engage and empower our youth as we head into the summer months. Let’s stay vigilant in our efforts to protect one another.
We’ll continue to do our part by executing our Comprehensive Neighborhood Safety Strategy. Each neighborhood faces unique challenges, and this safety strategy addresses these complexities with considerable forethought, precision and care. By embracing a holistic approach that blends prevention, intervention and enforcement, we are better positioned to disrupt the cycle of violence from multiple angles, and keep Columbus families safe.
There is one example, in particular, that I’d like to share with you tonight. Two weeks ago, we introduced the Clean and Safe Corridor Initiative, a strategic effort to improve safety, fuel economic prosperity and promote quality of life along key business corridors where there is a clear and quantifiable need for focused, proactive intervention.
We launched the program on Parsons Avenue, partnering with businesses like Bake Me Happy and the South Side Thrive Collaborative, to identify the most impactful city services and investments we could bring to the corridor. Over a span of two weeks, Columbus crews filled potholes, picked up trash, addressed specific safety issues, inspected local businesses, identified and monitored code violations, and more – providing a range of services from multiple city departments, valued at more than $164,000 in labor and infrastructure. We also awarded a $165,000 grant from the city’s operating budget to the South Side Thrive Collaborative to sustain safety and cleanliness efforts throughout the neighborhood. And we’ll devote dollars from our capital budget to help with infrastructure, cameras, lighting and other improvements the community needs and is asking for.
But we’re just getting started. I’m pleased to share that the next three corridors where we’ll be implementing this program are Sullivant Avenue on the Hilltop, Livingston Avenue on the South Side and along North High Street through the Short North. Over the coming weeks, we’ll bring this strike-force of city resources to each of these neighborhoods to enhance safety, cleanliness and quality of life along these vibrant commercial corridors.
But these communities aren’t the only places where we’re investing in infrastructure and safety improvements. Soon, our streetlights will be as bright as this city’s future when the Division of Power begins transforming the city’s aging streetlight system into a modern, cutting-edge network. This is about far more than changing lightbulbs. This is an ambitious undertaking to convert 100% of our existing streetlights – approximately 59,000 in total – to LED technology and connect them to a secure, smart network with remote capabilities. This will not only dramatically enhance light quality and visibility for all, but it will also reduce outages, deliver up to 60% energy savings, and lower maintenance costs for the Division of Power by 25%. An innovative partnership will also allow this project to roll out in just a few years – as opposed to two decades, like it would take in the past.
Together, we are creating safer, more resilient neighborhoods all throughout Columbus. But we also must remain focused on continuous improvement. I want Columbus to become the safest big city in America. I will not rest or waver until we are.
Other technology improvements, like the implementation of systems that translate texts to 9-1-1 in multiple languages and provide the ability to send live videos to 9-1-1 operators, will make emergency response more accessible and efficient. In Columbus, our first responders are here for you – no matter what neighborhood you’re in, no matter what language you speak, no matter where you’re from. These advancements ensure that all of our residents can access vital services and life-saving assistance. This makes every single one of us safer.
Unfortunately, domestic violence is one area where we're seeing numbers move in the wrong direction. Especially since the pandemic, there has been a stark and sudden rise in domestic violence all over the world. In the first quarter of this year, there were 12 homicides in our city … 5 of them were connected to domestic violence. Make no mistake: This is a community issue. It will take all of us working together to address domestic violence in a meaningful way. It cannot be solved by law enforcement alone.
Police have a job to do, without a doubt, but by the time they respond to a call for domestic violence, it means that we have failed in ours, which is doing everything within our power to prevent these tragedies from happening in the first place. We are actively coordinating and engaging with shelters, counselors, advocates and every single member of this community to support survivors and prevent future tragedies from taking place.
The Office of Violence Prevention is taking the lead on deploying new partnerships and resources – with dedicated staff and programming to get the entire community involved.It is only through shared responsibility that we can create the lasting change we seek. Next month, the city’s Office of Violence Prevention will be releasing a new plan, not only to take on domestic violence, but to partner with our community to identify new ways we can engage those at greatest risk of committing violence and intervene to keep our neighborhoods safe. We look forward to sharing the full plan with you in the coming weeks.
This work isn’t solely about preventing violence or securing our streets — it’s about building a community where everyone is able to reach their full potential.That is why I’m so optimistic about the new Franklin County Mental Health and Addiction Crisis Center, which is slated to open next month in Franklinton. This state-of-the-art facility will offer 24/7 walk-in services, inpatient care and observation for individuals facing mental health or addiction crises. With the capacity to serve 34,000 people every year, it will provide a crucial alternative to jail or emergency rooms, transforming our community's response to behavioral health, and improving the lives of some of our most vulnerable neighbors.
This new facility is a natural extension of the city’s successful Right Response Unit, which embeds social workers and mental health professionals in our 9-1-1 Dispatch Center to connect callers with the right resources in a timely fashion – particularly those grappling with addiction and mental health challenges. This program has freed up our officers to focus more of their time on fighting violent crime – to the tune of 1,800 hours in 2024 alone. And plans are underway to further expand its capacity to better address the rising volume of mental health calls that our dispatchers are receiving – yet another way we’re addressing the diverse needs of a growing city.
At the same time, we must also mobilize as a city to remedy the extreme financial burdens borne by so many of our neighbors who are struggling to make ends meet. The city's Economic Mobility Accelerator Program, which we launched late last year, is doing just that. The program provides participants with stipends of $500 cash each month for two years to be used at their discretion while completing job training to advance their careers. This empowers individuals and families with short-term assistance to achieve long-term stability.
Strong families make up strong neighborhoods, and strong neighborhoods are what make for great cities. That is why we are also scaling our ambitions and aspirations to the neighborhood-level to achieve systemic change.Two notable examples are Linden and the Hilltop, where we've already seen more than $635 million in public- and private-sector investments as a direct result of the community-driven plans that we've partnered with our neighbors to create. Our newest area of focus is Eastland, where we just launched a similar plan-of-action that will lift up everyone who's been so essential to the growth of that neighborhood. Thanks to commitments by the city, Mid-Ohio Food Collective, Directions for Youth and Families Foundation, Columbus State and others, we’ve already seen more than $124 million flow into the Eastland community.
Bottom line is this: We want folks who were born and raised in Columbus to benefit just as much from our city's growth as our neighbors who will join us over the next 30 years.These plans help us to bridge the past, present and future while surveying the horizon to maximize the opportunities that still lie ahead.
It is in this spirit that we are continuing to invest in our future leaders.The city is proud to be partnering with Fort Hayes, our gracious host this evening, to connect high school students with city staff in Building and Zoning Services to provide on-the-job training, and prepare them for possible careers as future city inspectors.
One of those students – Gus Hooley – participated in this program back in 2023 and has since gone on to become the first-ever electrical trainee employed by B-Z-S right out of vocational school. We are so excited to see Gus continue to do great things in his life and in his career. And I’m happy to report that we’ve recently offered a trainee position to a second student here at Fort Hayes, who will begin working with BZS after graduation.
Our children are our treasure. Everything we do today is for them and their future. They deserve a city that nurtures their potential and cheers them on as they find their footing and reach for the stars. We will always be there for them. That’s a promise. And when they envision what tomorrow holds, I want their imaginations to run wild with possibility, and to see a city that reflects their highest aspirations – a city where anything is possible.
That is why tonight – the City of Columbus along with my wife, Shannon, and I – are teaming up with the Greater Columbus Sports Commission to declare our aspiration for Columbus to emerge as the Nation’s Capital for Women’s Sports. We’re already making great headway. Last year, Columbus became the home to the Columbus Fury, one of eight teams in the Pro Volleyball Federation. And, in two years, Columbus will host the Division-One NCAA women’s volleyball finals and the Women’s Final Four basketball semifinal and championship games for the second time in a decade.
But this isn’t just about athletics. This is about creating a pipeline for women to serve as the future business and civic leaders of this city. And the connection couldn’t be clearer. 94% of women in C-Suite roles in the private sector have played sports in their lifetimes. And, among those who’ve competed in athletics, 85% say the lessons they learned on the field or on the court – discipline, teamwork, resilience – have been instrumental to their success. That’s why we must keep investing in our young people, especially our girls, because, when we give them access to these kinds of opportunities and experiences early on, they ultimately carry those lessons with them for a lifetime.
Emerging as the Nation’s Capital for Women’s Sports … thanks to incredible student-athletes like Marcela and leaders like Cassandra …
Becoming the safest big city in America ...
Banding together to build hundreds of thousands of homes …
Ensuring that every resident prospers as our community grows …
Remaining a welcoming, inclusive and open city – even when others would like to see us pitted against each other.
This is the work we are called to do. This is the work that lies ahead.
As always, this work will require a collective community lift. Despite the challenges before us, I remain firm in my belief that Columbus can be a beacon of light for others, especially during times of adversity.
We have a proven track record of doing big things as a community – and we will do them again.
We know what needs to be done. We will innovate without fear or restraint, we will collaborate without limit, and we will pursue meaningful action with poise, optimism and purpose.
The future of our city is one of shared prosperity and opportunity, where broad and equitable growth fuels individual success — where every resident can see themselves reflected in our city’s ascent.
This is something all of us can get behind – no matter our ideological or political persuasions.
At a time when we’re being told by petty and partisan forces in Washington that our divisions are greater than our bonds and boldest ambitions, let us defy the critics and the naysayers, and demonstrate the power of forming and sustaining a united front.
In Columbus, we not only reach out to our fellow neighbors to lift them up and band together in common cause, but we also reach out to our neighboring cities and communities, as well – a proper reflection of the size and scale of the challenges we face, and our collective commitment to resolve them at a regional level.
Rarely does this happen anywhere else in the country. It’s a powerful competitive advantage for our region – in addition to being the right thing to do.
Together, we will move forward with urgency, energy and focus, act with intention, and stack hands to accomplish feats greater than any of us could ever hope to achieve alone.
We will not only build a better city – and a stronger region — but a better, safer and more fulfilling life for every person, for every family, who calls Columbus home.
May God bless you, and may God bless the City of Columbus.