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Funding shortage angers mayor
The Youngstown mayor wants at least $2 million more.
YOUNGSTOWN — Mayor Jay Williams is “livid” that the state failed to give Youngstown, with the highest foreclosure rate among Ohio’s larger cities, additional money from a federal housing stabilization program.
“This is absolutely outrageous,” Williams said. “It’s an absolute affront to the city.”
Williams, along with other city officials and community activists, was concerned when it was announced in September that Youngstown would receive $2.7 million from the federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program. The officials questioned the fairness of the allocation because the city’s foreclosure rate during an 18-month period ending in September was 14.7 percent, the highest among larger cities in the state.
For example, Akron, with a 10.3 percent foreclosure rate, was awarded $8.6 million.
The state received $258 million with $141.2 million awarded to 22 cities and counties in September.
The money is for demolitions, housing rehabilitation, to buy foreclosed properties, offer down-payment and closing-cost assistance to low- to moderate-income home buyers and create land banks in areas hard hit by rising foreclosures and declining property values.
Williams and others have lobbied the Gov. Ted Strickland administration for at least $2 million to the city from the remaining $116.8 million.
But when the Ohio Department of Development released the list Friday, Youngstown wasn’t on it.
The state, however, awarded an additional $3 million to Akron on Friday. Cleveland and Dayton, previously awarded money, will also get more.
“The mayor’s rightfully frustrated and the governor’s frustrated too,” said Keith Dailey, Strickland’s spokesman. “The federal government created a formula that places cities like Youngstown ... at a distinct disadvantage.”
The state had to stay within those guidelines when awarding the remaining $116.8 million, Dailey said.
Locally, the state awarded $2.9 million to Mahoning County, $2.1 million to Trumbull County, $1.5 million to Warren, and $1.5 million to be split between Columbiana and Carroll counties.
Williams doesn’t want to take money from other communities or have Mahoning County use its allocation for Youngstown because there are other parts of the county that need it. The state should have set aside money for Youngstown before Friday’s announcement, he said.
“The state has money for a number of programs related to providing assistance to cities,” Williams said. “I’m going to leave it to them to present a scenario to get more funding for Youngstown.”
When asked about money from those programs, Dailey did not give a direct response. Instead, he said the governor would “continue to work very closely with the mayor and other city leaders and do everything he can to ensure the city is heard.”
Though the city needs about $8 million to $10 million to fully address its housing issues, Williams said the city would settle for $2 million more.
“Five-hundred thousand dollars would be an attempt to placate the city, and that would be unacceptable,” he said. “Two million dollars more is not a stretch. I would think you’d break off a couple of million dollars to shut up the mayor of Youngstown.”
Williams points out that Strickland received great support from Youngstown when he successfully ran for governor in 2006 and that the city has trusted him and his administration to address the city’s needs.
Williams is to meet with top state officials Jan. 9 in Columbus to discuss those needs.
“I’ll use the time between now and that meeting to either validate the confidence the city has in the state, or maybe things aren’t the way I thought they were,” he said. “We’ll have to see how we proceed.”