YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. held a groundbreaking ceremony Thursday for three new duplexes on Glenwood Avenue.
The duplexes will be built at 3013, 3021 and 3031 Glenwood, with two recently completed duplexes between them.
Besides being high efficiency, the duplexes will be all electric, supplemented by solar panels on the roof of the carports that are projected to provide 104% of the electricity needed to power the houses.
“We want to do this because it makes the unit more affordable,” said Ian Beniston, executive director of the YNDC.
With other units the YNDC has built in the area, the tenants have gas bills in addition to their rent. Once completed, rent for the new duplexes will be between $800 and $900. The two-bedroom, two-bath, 1,000-square-foot units are targeted at low- to moderate-income families.
The duplexes, which cost $425,000 each to build, represent a $1.2 million investment on the Glenwood corridor. Beniston said it can’t be done without partners, including the Federal Home Loan Bank Affordable Housing Program of both Pittsburgh and Cincinnati through PNC and Premier (WesBanco) Bank, Mahoning County, The Raymond John Wean Foundation, the city of Youngstown and the Mahoning County Land Bank, which provided properties that were no longer in use.
The five lots were among 2,400 properties currently in possession of the land bank.
Additionally, the YNDC is building six new houses on Mineral Springs Avenue in the Idora neighborhood and three houses on Bernard Street. Those houses will be sold, while the houses on Glenwood will be rented out. A renovated four-bedroom, 1,780-square-foot house at 749 W. LaClede Ave. went on the market for $95,000 Thursday.
“We’re excited that there are a number of options emerging for people, households at various price points, various size needs,” said Debora Flora, executive director of the land bank. Flora said obtaining so many individual pieces of property in the county, mostly in Youngstown, was done with purpose.
“We knew that there would be a day where we would be at a point to put those properties back into play in various ways, and housing is an immediate need.”
Councilwoman Anita Davis, 6th Ward, said the first house completed by the YNDC was on Helena Avenue, in her ward, and there have been several projects that followed that have had a positive impact in her neighborhood.
Davis said when she took office, nearly a third of the blighted houses in Youngstown that needed to be demolished were in her ward.
“I’m excited with all that they’ve been doing here, making this place a place to come home again and helping to build up our community,” Davis said. “We see improvement there as well, because what’s done here sets the tone for our neighborhood.”
A common theme among those who spoke at the groundbreaking Thursday was the importance of federal and state programs such as solar tax credits and the affordable housing program.
Mayor Jamael Tito Brown said the partners responsible for the Glenwood project and others around the city are already addressing locally the affordable housing obstacles homeowners and renters are facing nationwide.
“This is how we get it done,” Brown said. “This is how we continue to move forward. So all of you, whatever part you played in this, I thank you from the bottom of my heart from the citizens, because it makes their life and their quality of life a lot better.”
Joe Koch Construction is the contractor on the duplex project.The YNDC issued its first-quarter performance report Wednesday. It can be viewed HERE.
Pictured at top: Ian Beniston, executive director of the YNDC.