The City of Hilliard Sustainability Plan

Hilliard Sustainability PlanColumbus, by the same measure, has approximately 24% of its housingat an affordable level. In short, the indicator reveals a serious barrier toentry that exists for potential residents of Hilliard. The cost of this housingis prohibitively high for half of Central Ohio residents. There are fewoptions for affordable mortgages and relatively few rental options. Figure2 illustrates the relative distribution of housing expenditures comparingHilliard to the City of Columbus. The vertical line shows the affordablelevel of mortgage expenditure per month for a resident living at the MSA’smedian household income.Annual change in the number of jobs; Annual change in the number ofbusiness establishmentsBackgroundHilliard seeks to become an economically sustainable place that offersstrong incentives to large employers but also promotes a favorable growthenvironment for local businesses and entrepreneurs. To measure the city’sprogress toward this goal there are two available statistics that can beused: annual change in number of jobs and annual change in the numberof business establishments. By tracking these two statistics and theirrelationship to each other, the City will be able to evaluate its progresstowards this goal and measure its relative progress compared to similarcities.Economic vitality cannot be measured solely by growth. 6 There must bean appropriate level of jobs for a community with an appropriate mix ofsectors. These two statistics will give insight into whether the communityis growing employment while increasing the diversity of its economicportfolio.MeasureThe Department of Economic Development will measure theannual change in the number of jobs within Hilliard and the annualchange in the number of business establishments. The numbers canbe accessed through various online resources including ReferenceUSA, the U.S. Economic Census, or U.S. County Business Patternsdata.DescriptionBased on the U.S. Economic Census, Hilliard added 26establishments between 2002 and 2007, while at the same timelosing 1,490 individual jobs. 7 Taken together these two statisticsdemonstrate how employment patterns have changed in recentyears. While new establishments have been created, they have notkept up with replacing jobs that have been lost. Although small,this may be interpreted as a sign that Hilliard’s economic portfolio isbecoming more diverse and less dependent on large employers.» Photo by D.W. RouteECON. EXECUTIVE DEV.SOCIAL SUMMARY EQ.89