AKRON, Ohio — A community in northeast Ohio is considered to be an affordable and great place to live in the Buckeye State.
However, several factors, including rising rents, are contributing to a housing shortage in Summit County. Rev. Raymond Greene Jr. believes housing is a human right and is fighting for people to have a decent place to live in Akron. He is the executive director of The Freedom Bloc, an organization created to help and empower the community. It’s one of many organizations trying to find a solution to the housing shortage in Akron and Summit County.
“The housing shortage, the lack of affordable and sanitary housing, but also the problems that go along inside of the housing, particularly low-income housing,” said Greene.
Greene, who experienced homelessness himself, says there are several things that contribute to the housing shortage, including low wages, lack of available livable units and high rents. The average cost of a one-bedroom apartment in Akron is $868 per month. That means a person needs to make at least $34,700 per year for it to be considered affordable. The Census Bureau reports the average income for a person living in Akron is a little less than $32,000 a year.
“The problem we’re facing right now is the rising costs of housing in America,” said Joseph Scalise, the director of Housing Services for United Way of Summit & Medina. “Both homeownership and renting apartments are becoming more difficult for average-income folks to do.”
Scalise works with people looking for housing. He agrees with Greene and says the biggest problem is people can’t afford a decent place to stay. Scalise says reasonable rent should be no more than 30% of your income but they are seeing people pay upwards of 55% of their monthly income on rent.
“It puts people in a position where they’re working multiple jobs to be able to afford housing, or they’re living month to month, paying way too much for their housing to afford the rest of their life,” said Scalise.
United Way of Summit & Medina has several programs that house the homeless and find permanent housing for Summit County residents. With more than 20 years of working with the homeless and those facing housing insecurities, Scalise says this can be fixed.
“The solution is more opportunity,” said Scalise. “More affordable housing and an emphasis on making sure that housing is safe and secure in our communities.”
Scalise also says race plays a part.
“We have people being systemically affected by housing costs in the housing community, and this, of course, is going to reveal itself as racial disparity as well,” said Scalise.
Moving forward, Scalise and Greene say they hope when they work with leadership they will make the necessary changes.
“Our goal is to work with the community to find out what the community wants and needs and then provide the information to the city,” said Greene.
The cost of living in Akron is around 14% below the national average.
United Way of Summit & Medina works with landlords across the county.
Continuum of Care is federally funded. They were awarded $6.9 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to fund 33 programs in 2024 that served more than 4,000 people.
Correction: This story has been edited to clarify information related to funding and programs, and a previous version incorrectly stated that the CoC was open to working with landlords. This has been corrected. (Aug. 29, 2025)
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