YOUNGSTOWN 2010 Housing provisions shift

Policy change means a new reality for nonprofit housing agencies in the city.
By ROGER G. SMITH
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- With a plan comes change.
That what's happening with city funding for housing programs as the Youngstown 2010 plan is developing.
The city is moving away from helping fund new, single-family homes rented to low-income families. Instead, the funding is headed toward programs that subsidize rehabilitated houses and promote homeownership among a mix of incomes.
The city is at a housing crossroads, said Jay Williams, director of the city Community Development Agency. The urgent need for new rental homes is fading, he said. The need is emerging for a range of housing types in certain parts of the city, he said.
"We need to be more careful and strategic in where we put those houses," he said.
Policy is changing for a few reasons, said Williams, whose agency administers the city's federal money set aside for housing.
One is declining federal funding. There was $1.5 million in the city's 2000-01 federal budget for low-income housing. The 2004-05 budget is $896,000.
More important is the proliferation of the subsidized rental homes.
Locations
The city has handed out several million dollars the past decade to nonprofit housing agencies. The agencies used the money to win federal tax credits sold to investors. Proceeds built more than 400 single-family homes around the city that are rented to low-income families. Agencies can sell the homes for market rate prices after 15 years.
But there can be too much of a good thing, Williams said.
Many of the rental homes are scattered around the city. That's because vacant lots were available, not because of a strategy, he said.
There have been questions about design, too. For example, some of the modern-size homes are squeezed onto traditionally small city lots. The resulting single-car garages long have concerned city officials.
Recently, vacancies among the rentals have become an issue.
One example particularly struck Williams, a home at 1044 High St. on the South Side. The 5-year-old home is vacant. Boards stretch across the windows on the lower level. Community Housing Options Involving Cooperative Efforts, or CHOICE, is the owner.
The city has enough old, abandoned and boarded-up homes without adding relatively new ones, Williams said.
"We're only exacerbating the problem," he said. "This all happened absent a comprehensive plan."
The 2010 plan under development will more clearly outline the city's housing needs. The plan isn't done, but there likely will be a much-reduced role for new rental homes, Williams said.
In response, the city has trimmed the amount set aside for such housing. Federal funding in 2004-05 is about $200,000. The city usually dedicates $500,000 to $600,000 a year on such projects.
Meanwhile, certain neighborhoods likely will need rehabilitation of existing homes and the stability that comes with owner-occupied residences, Williams said.
What's being done
The city already has embarked on expanding homeownership.
The Buy Into Youngstown program started in the fall with $45,000 from the city. An additional $50,000 is budgeted for 2004-05.
The program is a coalition that also includes Youngstown State University, housing agencies and eight banks. The program is for people who want to buy a house in the city and can be ready financially in six to 12 months. The hope is to produce 60 to 80 mortgage-ready home buyers a year.
Change in the city's funding focus means a new reality for the nonprofit housing agencies operating here.
Pat Rosenthal, executive director of Common Wealth Inc., is concerned that the city won't be getting the most housing for its money.
For example, a $250,000 city contribution leveraged enough tax-credit funding for Common Wealth to build 36 rental homes, she said. Such contributions toward renovating homes or homeownership won't go as far, she said. The need for new, affordable rental housing in the city remains, she said.
Phil Smith, director of CHOICE, agrees.
Smith said a market remains. There are qualified people waiting whenever a CHOICE rental becomes vacant, he said.
Situations like the boarded home on High Street are a function of bad timing, Smith said. CHOICE boards up homes that become empty for security reasons. A tenant is waiting to move into the High Street home, he said.
Most vacancies occur because the residents leave town to find work, he said.
How he sees things
Nonetheless, Smith doesn't mind the city's new direction and thinks it's a good move.
Smith said his agency -- by far the city's largest nonprofit builder -- is ready to curtail building rental homes. Instead, the agency will expand its work in subsidized renovations and new construction, he said.
CHOICE has renovated 12 homes the past couple years. Plans are for 40 to 50 more renovations. Qualified people can buy a renovated house valued at $80,000 to $90,000 for $40,000 to $50,000, he said.
"And you're getting a solid, solid home," Smith said.
CHOICE also is building about two-dozen new homes the agency will sell. Qualified people can buy a new home valued at $120,000 for $60,000 to $70,000, he said.
Smith noted that the city housing market will change markedly in about five years. That's when the first CHOICE rentals -- about 50 of them -- will be available for sale.
That again will change the number and type of housing units the city needs, he said.
The North Side Citizens' Coalition also is starting subsidized renovations and new construction in the Wick Park neighborhood that will be owner-occupied.
The agency has two renovations done and two more waiting to start, said Talut Rasul, executive director.
Construction is about to start on two new homes and five others are planned, which will cost about $130,000. Qualified buyers can get the new homes for about $85,000, he said.
Rasul envisions the coalition doing two more renovations and five new housing starts next year.
rgsmith@vindy.com