YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – A strategy released in 2025 provided a framework to address the Mahoning Valley’s housing shortage. A new study will go further by analyzing what areas are suitable for what types of new housing.
“After completing the regional housing strategy, this was kind of something that had come out of our conversations with local communities, with developers, with folks in the housing space,” says Justin Mondok, director of planning and development at Eastgate Regional Council of Governments. “We kept hearing feedback about our market value analysis, that broke our region down into these submarkets, to really evaluate the strength of the housing market on a smaller scale than just the Valley broadly.”
Eastgate contracted with the Greater Ohio Policy Center and the Reinvestment Fund for a housing strategy, released in early 2025. That document found in part that the shortage exists across all types of housing.
“The logical question that we kept getting asked was, ‘What type of housing should we put in these submarkets?’ And we didn’t quite get to that answer with that original strategy,” Mondok explains.
New Study
The organization is seeking requests for proposals, due Aug. 12, for a Housing Development Suitability Analysis. “The purpose of the analysis is to support the development of housing in the region that meets the future needs and demands to realize sustainable and equitable residential growth,” the request reads.
The needs assessment released last year focused on the needs and the housing cost burden of the population, the request says. It included a basic housing stock analysis, which identified a mismatch in the area’s housing stock.
“There is a lack across all units and demographics and more analysis and breakdown is needed,” reads the request, posted on Eastgate’s website. “The demand study will develop further on what type and how many units are needed.”
Hearing from officials in Valley communities as well as companies and organizations involved in housing led Eastgate to seek the deeper analysis.
“That kind of led us to this point of coming up with this idea to really kind of expand the picture of what we originally did in the housing strategy and take it a step further, so that we could evaluate housing types based on infrastructure availability, environmental constraints, availability of land, proximity to amenities and jobs, and all of those factors,” Mondok says.
Once a company or organization is selected for the work, it will take about a year to complete the analysis, Mondok estimates, and he believes it will lead to discussions about specific areas and market demand.
“I think it’ll give us a better picture of ideas where we’re missing some pieces to really kind of unlock and help improve market strength in certain areas, whether that’s utility deficiencies, or if we need better transportation access in certain areas to really make them more viable for increased housing production in those submarkets,” Mondok continues. “But I think it helps give us that extra evidence to push in on a few more areas and approach project development with more data-based reasoning.”
Other Views
Ian Beniston and Matt Martin, executive directors of Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation and Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership, respectively, agree a housing suitability analysis will be helpful.
“This is to give us more detailed information, particularly on the types of units, the location, the extent of the demand and then also looking regionally,” Beniston says. “It’s not just Youngstown specific, but regionally at locations that are suitable for development.”
He points to available land and infrastructure, proximity to jobs and assets.
“We generally have some understanding of demand for what we’re doing, but I don’t think any of us have a clear understanding of what the full regional demand actually is,” the YNDC executive director says.
It also could be helpful in attracting other developers and demonstrating with hard data what the housing need is including the number of units needed per type of housing and who the target demographic of that type is.
Beniston says he’s a proponent of building where infrastructure already exists.
“That’s what we’ve been doing in the city and in the urbanized communities,” he adds. “But I think this will lay all that stuff out and give people a little more information on what the potential is, as well as where we should be driving development based on all the factors I mentioned.”
Martin says when TNP started in 2010, its focus was remediation.
“That was the hook,” he explains. “That was what we were here to do and we spent the next 15 years doing a lot of demolitions, a lot of renovations of vacant abandoned property, a lot of grass cutting, a lot of selling side lots to neighbors for yard expansion, urban agriculture, etc.”
That focus shifted over the last few years as the market changed to better support renovation and construction, Martin says. TNP built its first four houses last year and Martin expects to break ground later this summer or early fall on 10 more.
“Any studies, data, research, information that our peers in government, nonprofit, and the private sector can provide to help guide what development looks like in Warren, in Youngstown, throughout Trumbull and Mahoning County, I think is extremely useful,” he adds.
Mondok of Eastgate says the study will be funded as part of the grant from Valley Vision, a partnership between Mahoning and Trumbull county commissioners.
What Study Involves
The completed study is to include market demand analysis, assessment of development constraints, inventory of vacant and underutilized land, creation of a development suitability analysis, creation of priority locations, collaboration with local stakeholders and a final report and presentation.
Regarding priority locations, the study authors are to identify up to five priority locations for residential development and examine the impediments associated with them including existing infrastructure, utility connections and capacity and zoning.
“Ideally, we want the most representative geographic kind of sample to dig into,” Mondok says. “I think we’ll really get some clarity on that once we start to assemble some of the initial data for this project to see how we can establish an evaluation criteria for identifying the locations to really dig into the nitty gritty details.”
But Eastgate officials want to pick examples that can be applicable in as many places as possible, he adds. “So if we do this work once, can it also be reflective of similar smaller geographic focus areas across the region?”
The housing strategy released last year has generated much interest and community members look forward to addressing the problem, the planning and development director says. Because of differences among communities, how each tackles it will vary.
“I think what we kept running up against is some of those missing data pieces, and that’s why we’re continuing with this project,” Mondok continues. “We want to be able to provide as many tools in the toolbox for our communities to be able to take their visions and kind of run with them as best as possible, and I think that looks different in every community that we talk to. … But I think everyone we’ve talked to has been receptive and open to wanting to work and find those solutions.”
Pictured at top: The Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation is building a house on Canfield Road on Youngstown’s west side.