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Campbell mayor hopes Kirwan Homes housing project will be closed by 2011
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Clifford Scott, YMHA executive director
The mayor would like to see the complex closed.
CAMPBELL — Despite a recommendation that the Youngstown housing authority close the Kirwan Homes low-income apartments, there is no immediate plan to do so.
A study by a Chicago firm called EMG, which specializes in assessing public-housing viability, was completed six months ago on all the Youngstown Metropolitan Housing Authority’s properties in Mahoning County, said Clifford Scott, YMHA’s executive director. The authority owns properties in Youngstown, Struthers, Lowellville and Austintown.
It recommended closing the Kirwan Homes, he said, because of several factors.
“It’s an older property,” he said. “Clearly, the city has some economic issues. Structures nearby are dilapidated,” he said, especially pointing out the concrete row houses in that part of the city.
He said the study looked at occupancy, which is 52 percent for 149 units; at crime; and at where the city is going.
But closing a property is not that simple, Scott said.
The authority would have to have public hearings, the closing would have to be approved by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and a relocation plan for residents would be necessary, he said.
Scott said there is also a demand for low-income housing in the bad economy. “There’s some tough times out there,” he said.
Still, he said, it is possible the homes will close in the future — 2011 would be the earliest.
Campbell Mayor Jack Dill said he would hope that 2011 would be the latest.
“I hoped no later than 2010,” said Dill. He “most definitely” wants to see the apartments closed, he said, adding he’s been in discussions with YMHA about that for a year and a half. The city council agrees, he said.
He said the city has “a lot of issues” with the apartments. Transient people there cause an increase in crime, creating problems for police, he said. It’s also hard for the school district to keep track of students, he said.
He said the projects aren’t a good environment for families.
“I don’t believe anyone should have to live like that — everybody together like that in an area saturated with people,” he said.
“Every family should have their own home, not thrown into a group in a housing project.”
Scott said the YMHA will make sure that Kirwan Homes residents are safe and secure, that vacant units are secure and that tenants adhere to their leases.
Most of the row houses near the project, Dill acknowledged, are in bad shape. Built in the 1920s out of concrete, they were “company houses” for Youngstown Sheet & Tube, he said.
There are 30-some row houses along the streets in the 1st Ward, each with four to eight units. They are all privately owned.
The city has asked the county to demolish some of the row houses with federal neighborhood stabilization funds.