Apply for Residential Tax Incentives
Program Guidelines
Click here to submit a Residential Tax Incentive application.
The Residential Tax Incentive program fosters private sector investment to build mixed income neighborhoods.
Area Designations and Affordable Housing Unit Requirements
Geographic eligibility for this program is divided into three Area Designations: Market Ready, Ready for Revitalization, and Ready for Opportunity. These Area Designations represent a mixture of economic indicators that are measured over a period of time.
Refer to the Policy Comparison Chart above to review the requirements for each Area Designation. Legacy CRAs (Brewers District, Easton Square Place, Downtown, and Jeffrey Residential) do not have an Area Designation.
Market Ready
Homeownership:
Household income cannot exceed one hundred twenty percent (120%) AMI and for which the annual cost of ownership does not exceed thirty-five percent (35%) of the household’s gross annual income
Rental:
Option 1: a minimum of ten percent (10%) of the housing units in the Development Project are Affordable Housing Units rented to occupants with a household income at or below sixty percent (60%) AMI, and an additional ten percent (10%) or more of the housing units in the development are Affordable Housing Units rented to occupants with household incomes at or below eighty percent (80%) AMI.
Option 2: a minimum of thirty percent (30%) of the housing units in the Development Project are Affordable Housing Units rented to occupants with a household income at or below eighty percent (80%) AMI.
Credit Options (each equals one Affordable Housing Unit otherwise required):
- Fee-in-lieu of $32,000 (plus an inflation adjustment) (rental only)
- One million dollars ($1,000,000.00) of environmental remediation expense
- Twenty-five thousand (25,000) square feet of Class A office space
If the project is to remodel of a property listed on the Columbus Register of Historic Properties, then the Affordable Housing Unit requirements shall not apply.
Ready for Revitalization
Homeownership:
Household income cannot exceed one hundred twenty percent (120%) AMI and for which the annual cost of ownership does not exceed thirty-five percent (35%) of the household’s gross annual income
Rental:
Option 1: a minimum of ten percent (10%) of the housing units in the Development Project are Affordable Housing Units rented to occupants with a household income at or below sixty percent (60%) AMI, and an additional ten percent (10%) or more of the housing units in the development are Affordable Housing Units rented to occupants with household incomes at or below eighty percent (80%) AMI.
Option 2: a minimum of thirty percent (30%) of the housing units in the Development Project are Affordable Housing Units rented to occupants with a household income at or below eighty percent (80%) AMI.
Credit Options (each equals one Affordable Housing Unit otherwise required):
- Fee-in-lieu of $16,000 (plus an inflation adjustment) (rental only)
- One million dollars ($1,000,000.00) of environmental remediation expense
- Twenty-five thousand (25,000) square feet of Class A office space
If the project is to remodel of a property listed on the Columbus Register of Historic Properties, then the Affordable Housing Unit requirements shall not apply.
Ready for Opportunity
Homeownership:
No Affordable Housing Unit requirements apply.
Rental:
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A minimum of ten percent (10%) of the housing units in the Development Project are Affordable Housing Units rented to occupants with a household income at or below eighty percent (80%) AMI, and an additional ten percent (10%) or more of the housing units in the development are Affordable Housing Units rented to occupants with household incomes at or below one hundred percent (100%) AMI.
Credit Options (each equals one Affordable Housing Unit otherwise required):
- Fee-in-lieu of $5,000 (plus an inflation adjustment) (rental only)
- One million dollars ($1,000,000.00) of environmental remediation expense
- Twenty-five thousand (25,000) square feet of Class A office space
If the project is to remodel of a property listed on the Columbus Register of Historic Properties, then the Affordable Housing Unit requirements shall not apply.
Incentive Benefit
Property owners will continue to pay existing taxes on the property prior to the improvements. The incentive is on the improved value only as determined by the County Auditor. Property tax exemptions are based on increased valuation of the property from significant improvements.
Apply for a Residential Tax Incentive
Under Ohio Revised Code, the incentive of a property tax abatement cannot be certified until after construction of the project is completed. In order to pre-review project details during the construction cycle, applications submit a Program Qualification application to certify the affordability requirements for the project. Thereafter, the Project Review application will open for applicants to return to and fill out during their construction cycle, culminating in certifying post-construction details in order to certify the incentive.
Below are the highlights of each portion of the application. To view full application requirements, you may view the application at the link at the top of this webpage.
Program Qualification
- Certification of the project parcel(s) location within a given Community Reinvestment Area and census tract;
- Uploading of fully issued permits for the project;
- Affordable Housing Unit requirements outlined, and applicant selects their affordability option as applicable;
- Residential Tax Incentive Agreement issued to memorialize the terms of the affordability requirement;
- Conditional approval letter issued
Project Review
- Final construction cost certification;
- Pre- and post- construction photos;
- Final Certificate(s) of Occupancy and/or closed permits;
- Final approval letter issued
Eligible Improvements
Improvements made under a fully-issued construction permit that affect the assessed value of a property may be eligible for the incentive. Not all improvements will change the value of a property as determined by the County Auditor. Only those applications that include a building permit will be reviewed for eligibility.
After the improvements are completed, the City of Columbus certifies the completed work to the County Auditor. The County Auditor determines the increase in value and tax amounts. The value of the increase will be exempted from property tax. For questions regarding specific abatement values please contact the County Auditor's office pertaining to your project: www.franklincountyauditor.com; https://www.delawarecountyauditor.org/; https://realestate.co.fairfield.oh.us/.
If you have additional questions, please email us at restaxabatement@columbus.gov.