Rep. McNally Announces $2.4M for home construction and renovation
COLUMBUS – State Rep. Lauren McNally (D-Youngstown) today announced $2.4 million in grant funding under the Ohio Department of Development’s new Welcome Home Ohio program, bringing home ownership to 12 Mahoning County buyers who likely otherwise could not afford it, officials said.
The funds will enable the grantee, the Mahoning County Land Bank, in collaboration with the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp., to build six single-family homes, renovate six others and sell them all to qualifying buyers (those with incomes of 80 percent of the area’s median income or less).
The local grant is among $29.4 million awarded statewide to organizations in 17 Ohio counties.
Plans call for six new homes to be built on Mineral Springs Drive, which runs west off Glenwood Avenue on the eastern edge of Mill Creek Park in Youngstown. YNDC owns property on the street and has built two homes there recently. Several older homes have been demolished in recent years.
“With the addition of six new homes there, that’s going to feel like a completely new street,” said Debora Flora, executive director of the Land Bank.
One of the six homes to be renovated is located on Stocker Drive near McKelvey Lake on the city’s East Side. The other five renovated homes will be identified in the upcoming weeks.
All 12 will be sold to homeowners. According to Welcome Home Ohio guidelines, a buyer cannot earn more than 80 percent of the area’s median income. The buyer must agree to live in the home at least five years. Moreover, if they sell the home in less than 20 years, they must sell to a buyer who earns no more than 80 percent of the median income and agrees to live there at least five years.
“We’re very excited about promoting home ownership in Youngstown and the surrounding communities,” said State Rep. Lauren McNally, D-59th, of Youngstown. "Through our operating budget, introducing a bill for affordable housing tax credits, and writing a letter of support for Youngstown's inclusion in the Single Family Tax Credit program offered by the Ohio Housing Finance Agency, I am consistently advocating for the resources we need to improve housing in our region. These dollars will support the work of organizations that have successfully leveraged millions of dollars in resources to improve our area. I'm very happy to see the state reinforce their work."
The new homes will be a minimum of three-bedroom, two-bathroom, two-car garage homes built with high-quality construction methods and materials, said YNDC Executive Director Ian Beniston. They will also be energy-efficient.
“We strongly believe these characteristics are important to position low- to moderate-income home buyers for long-term success,” Beniston said.
The grants were awarded on a competitive basis, and the Land Bank believes its application was viewed favorably because of its track record and that of the YNDC.
YNDC, a citywide community development corporation, has been renovating vacant homes and commercial buildings for 14 years. The organization has coordinated the construction or renovation of more than 200 buildings and the repair of more than 1,600 homes.
The Land Bank has been renovating houses for market transactions for 10 years and has also overseen do-it-yourself renovations by homeowners. The agency has demonstrated administrative capacity to monitor program compliance, having managed about $34 million in public funds for demolition and brownfield remediation over the past 10 years.
YNDC and the Land Bank have partnered on about 50 vacant-home renovation projects to date, as well as five new construction projects in the past five years.