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“Iron Soup” apartments gain new life as housing for homeless vets
‘Iron Soup’ apartments gain new life as housing for
By Sarah Lehr
CAMPBELL
Melvin Blackburn moved into a fledging Veterans Village on Chambers Street in Campbell just days ago, but he already describes the program as being “like a close-knit family.”
Blackburn graduated from high school in Warren in 1987 and then spent two years in the armed services.
He is exactly the kind of resident the Iron Soup Historical Preservation Co. – ISHPC – aims to attract as part of its efforts to shelter homeless veterans, said Tim Sokoloff, president and founder of ISHPC.
Sokoloff formed ISHPC in 2010, hoping to
rescue a forgotten piece of local history. He was concerned about the fate of a row of historic Chambers Street buildings, built in 1918 as company homes for Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. workers.
The company built the row homes after a massive strike that marks its centennial anniversary this year. In protest over poor working conditions, steel-company employees rioted and burned down much of East Youngstown, which is modern-day Campbell.
Historians say the Iron Soup homes, a push from the company to mollify workers, represented an early form of corporate welfare.
In the decades since Youngstown steel went belly-up, however, the Chambers Street homes largely fell into disrepair.
That’s where the ISHPC came in.
Over the span of about five years, the nonprofit organization has purchased 20 of the 130 “Iron Soup” units and kicked off the dirty work of making them livable again.
Several ISHPC plans for the apartments’ future – including housing for students or for oil and gas workers – have fallen through, but the newest initiative to shelter veterans has hit the ground running.
Two veterans – one of whom is Blackburn – now live in renovated Iron Soup apartments.
The ISHPC currently offers two types of housing – rent-free transitional housing and permanent housing with rent set from an income-based sliding scale.
Tammy Lipkovich, who has one son in the Air Force and another who is a disabled Army veteran, volunteers as a case manager for ISHPC. When she’s done with her day job, Lipkovich finds residents for the new Veterans Village. She also visits the residents daily and assists with finding psychological support, medical care and job placement.
“There is a stigma around homelessness,” she said. “In reality, a homeless person often doesn’t look like the commercial of a raggedy person sitting on the sidewalk with a cup and dirty hair. ... It might be someone going to a job every day and not telling anyone that they’re living out of a car.”
Lipkovich said the Iron Soup homes can help homeless veterans get back on their feet.
Campbell Mayor Nick Phillips cites similar potential, saying that he “100 percent supports” the ISPHC’s goals for a Veterans Village.
“Unfortunately, in our country, once veterans have done serving, they’re treated almost like used goods,” he said.
Phillips said the city is helping the ISHPC find grants. He’s intrigued by the ISHPC’s goals, including a plan to create a small-scale urban farm right on the premises.
The mayor acknowledged, however, that realization of such a vision is a way off.
“If you look at that area, it’s like a bomb went off,” Phillips said. “There’s a lot to do. ... Money is always an issue.”
Private donations, including construction work from RTW Industrial Contracting of Hubbard, are largely responsible for keeping the ISHPC running, Sokoloff said. The Youngstown Food Forest also has contributed. The ISHPC welcomes donations, especially of electrical wire, windows and doors. Visit ironsoup.com to learn more.