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Single-family-home permits surge in county
By Elise Franco
Single-family-home permits issued in Mahoning County are on the rise for the first time since 2006 — a positive sign for a county hit hard by the recession.
Jeff Uroseva, chief building official for the county building- inspection department, said the number of single-family home starts peaked in 2006, with more than 600 permits issued. Uroseva said the number declined by about half each year until 2010.
He said he can pinpoint a few reasons why this happened.
“Obviously, it’s because of the economy and the increased restrictions on lending,” he said. “It just destroyed the residential market.”
In 2008, 148 single-family housing permits were issued; 77 in 2009; and 93 in 2010, according to data from the building inspector’s office.
Uroseva said he is hopeful that the data from 2010 signal a new trend of continued increases in coming years.
“No one here has a crystal ball, but any change in direction is a good sign,” he said. “Hopefully, we break 100 [permits in 2011] and continue to grow our home starts again.”
Not all communities in the county saw significant loss through the downward trend.
In 2008, 2009 and 2010, Canfield Township led the county in new permits issued, with 34, 22 and 31, respectively.
“Canfield has always been a strong community to lead the way,” Uroseva said.
Dave Morrison, Canfield Township zoning inspector, said he thinks people continue to build homes in Canfield for several reasons.
“The school system is an obvious reason,” he said. “We also have excellent [safety enforcement] and residential developments such as Summer Wind and Westford.”
Morrison said Canfield Township, unlike more-filled-out communities such as Boardman, Campbell or Canfield city, has plenty of land to build on.
“Canfield [Township] is going to continue its growth for many years to come,” he said. “It is quite a balancing act, though, because we try to retain out rural heritage while supporting residential and business growth.”
Uroseva said it’s likely Boardman’s growth has slowed to just 17 permits in three years because the township has few residential developments with any space left to build.
“In this economy, no one is going to go and put in a brand-new development because it’s too expensive,” he said. “There aren’t too many existing [developments] that aren’t already built up in Boardman.”
Other townships such as Austintown, Goshen and Poland brought in solid numbers in 2008 but significantly tapered the following two years.
Goshen issued 11 in 2008, and Poland issued 20. In the next two years, Goshen issued only three and Poland 19.
Other communities — Lowellville, New Middletown and Poland villages — haven’t had any new permits for at least three years, according to the data.
Uroseva said Austintown, which suffered the most significant drop from 25 permits in 2008 to a combined 14 in 2009 and 2010, used to lead the county.
“Austintown has always been tied to General Motors, in my opinion,” he said. “When there’s good news out of GM, the spending goes up; and when there’s bad news or uncertainty, you see spending go down.”
Austintown Zoning Inspector Darren Crivelli said the tighter lending restrictions and credit requirements have been a factor for Austintown and across the board.
“Only the most credit-worthy are being approved for loans,” he said.
Crivelli said the cost to build a home has become higher than the price at which the home is actually appraised.
“The selling price ends up being different than the appraised price,” he said. “I think that has an impact on the market.”
Crivelli said Austintown has plenty of land ready for development and would like to see an increase in demand.
“We need to see a break-even point and a pickup in home construction,” he said. “It’s an overall sign of a healthy economy.”
Youngstown, which has its own city-run building inspection, suffers from issues different from those in outlying cities and townships, said Brenda Williams, the city’s chief building inspector.
Williams said in 2008, Youngstown had 11 new residential housing permits, six in 2009 and one in 2010. She said of those 18 permits, only three were built by private citizens.
The rest were funded by public entities — Habitat for Humanity, Youngstown Metropolitan Housing Authority or Youth Build.
PERMITS BY COMMUNITY
Austintown: 2008, 25; 2009, 6; 2010, 8.
Boardman: 2008, 6; 2009, 5; 2010, 6.
Beaver: 2008, 13; 2009, 7; 2010, 7.
Berlin: 2008, 4; 2009, 4; 2010, 0.
Canfield Twp.: 2008, 34; 2009, 22; 2010, 31.
Craig Beach: 2008, 2; 2009 and 2010, 0.
Campbell: 2008 and 2010, 0; 2009, 1.
Canfield city: 2008, 4; 2009, 1; 2010, 2.
Coistville: 2008, 2; 2009, 2; 2010, 0.
Ellsworth: 2008, 4; 2009, 1; 2010, 2.
Goshen: 2008, 11; 2009, 2; 2010, 1.
Green: 2008, 3; 2009, 7; 2010, 7.
Jackson: 2008, 7; 2009, 1; 2010, 1.
Milton: 2008, 2; 2009, 5; 2010, 4.
Poland Twp.: 2008, 20; 2009, 9; 2010, 10.
Sebring: 2008 and 2010, 0; 2009, 1.
Smith: 2008, 2; 2009, 0; 2010, 3.
Springfield: 2008, 5; 2009, 9; 2010, 8.
Struthers: 2008, 0; 2009, 1; 2010, 2.
Youngstown: 2008, 11; 2009, 6; 2010, 1.
Note: Lowellville, Poland and New Middletown villages have not had any new residential permits issued in the last three years.
Source: Mahoning County and Youngstown building inspectors