Developer seeks support in building Struthers housing

May 26, 2011 at 12:05a.m.

By Jeanne Starmack

STRUTHERS

A nonprofit developer is going to try again to build senior-citizen housing, but this time the city isn’t sure it will support the effort.

The housing development would be built on 4 acres behind Youngstown-Poland Road in the 2nd Ward. Called Saxony Place, it would feature 40 one-bedroom, 670-square-foot apartments with garages for residents 62 and older. To qualify, annual incomes must be $18,800 or less for a one-person household and $21,500 or less for a two-person household.

The developer, Buckeye Community Hope Foundation of Columbus, has asked the city for a resolution supporting the project so it can obtain HUD grants, said 2nd Ward Councilman Robert Stouffer.

The city supported the developer’s effort to build on the property once before. Last October, council passed a resolution supporting 40 one- and two-bedroom ranch-style units for low- to moderate-income senior-citizen housing. Buckeye then applied for tax credits from the Ohio Housing Finance Agency that would have generated $4.5 million toward the $6 million project. It was one of 90 projects competing for $230 million in tax credits. Thirty-five projects were to get funding.

Buckeye learned in March it was being turned down.

This time, Stouffer said, 2nd Ward residents will be invited to give input at a meeting at 6:30 p.m. June 13. He has not decided yet on a place for the meeting.

Fliers about the project will also be sent to 539 households in the ward.

Stouffer wouldn’t comment on whether he would support the project.

“There’s too many unanswered questions,” he said.

“I won’t make a decision without the neighborhood’s opinion.”

Nonprofit developers such as Buckeye focus on affordable housing or low- to-moderate-income developments, and they rely on public programs to fund the developments.