City of Youngstown Strategy to Improve Housing Conditions

City of Youngstown Housing Conditions Analysis & Strategy to Improve Housing Conditions Prepared by Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation November 2020 Supported by City of Youngstown Research assistance from Youngstown State University Department of Geography and Urban-Regional Studies Table of Contents 1 Introduction 2 Executive Summary 8 Data Analysis of Housing Conditions and Needs 34 Resident Survey of Housing Conditions and Needs 42 Strategy to Improve Housing Conditions 61 Appendix 62 Lending Analysis 66 Rental Registration and Inspection Regime 71 Code Enforcement Strategy 72 Resident Survey (full results) 126 Implementation Table Introduction This document builds upon a previous multi-year More than 1,700 residents provided neighborhood planning process in Youngstown, Ohio, which was initiated in 2014 to identify and prioritize issues feedback and identified housing issues negatively affecting neighborhood quality of life and to develop specific action plans to address these issues. as the highest priority for improving Throughout the planning process, more than 1,200 residents neighborhood conditions. provided feedback and identified housing issues as the highest priority for improving neighborhood conditions. This document builds from that body of work, which included the 2014 Neighborhood Conditions Report, than 1,700 residents and interviews of more than 30 stakeholders the 2014 Neighborhood Revitalization Strategy Report, regarding housing conditions and needs. Strategies for 13 Neighborhood Action Plans developed between 2014 improving housing quality were designed to be responsive and 2017, and citywide vacancy surveys completed in to the findings of the data analysis and to the input of 2016 and 2018. residents and stakeholders. Strategies were developed through discussions with officials in peer cities across Ohio, The previous neighborhood planning process focused heavily review of best practices and successful housing development on vacant properties since in the years following the housing projects, research of available funding opportunities, and crisis in 2008, vacant properties had come to impact every discussion with local officials and national housing experts. neighborhood in Youngstown to some degree or another. However, due to the prioritization of demolition and rehabilitation This document is a call to action intended to guide and of vacant properties, their numbers have fallen from 3,514 in move decision makers, funders, property owners, government 2016 to just 1,841 in 2019—a decrease of nearly 50% in three officials, developers, and leaders, both in our local community years. Many of the remaining vacant properties will need to be and beyond, to prioritize the improvement of housing demolished and that remains a priority, but the focus of this conditions for all Youngstown and Mahoning County residents. document shifts to the condition of occupied properties in Youngstown. Thousands of occupied properties—both owner-occupied and renter-occupied—are in poor condition and at risk of becoming vacant or abandoned. This document seeks to uncover some of the complex causes contributing to poor housing conditions in Youngstown, which will include an analysis of the city’s regional context, its history, its economy, its population, and its housing stock. Key quanti- tative components of the analysis include a citywide housing quality and property conditions survey completed in 2019 by the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation, a Housing Needs Assessment completed by Bowen National Research in 2020, and data related to population, housing, and occupancy characteristics compiled by the Youngstown State University Department of Geography and Urban-Regional Studies. Key qualitative components include a survey of more Introduction | 1 Executive Summary More than 1,700 residents shared their personal challenges, observations, insights, and The City of Youngstown and the surrounding region still recommendations to guide the struggle to recover from the decades-long decline of the local manufacturing industry. development of a strategy for Job losses led to outmigration and neighborhood deterioration, improving housing conditions particularly in the region’s urban centers. As the economic in Youngstown. base has continued to decline, unemployment remains higher than state or national rates and a concentration of low-wage jobs has emerged. With an aging housing stock, a population reinforced by resident input. It outlines a strategy to improve increasingly unable to afford home repairs or modernization, housing quality for all people of Youngstown. Data is examined and very limited bank lending for investment, thousands of through a lens of equity and racial justice, to demonstrate properties in the region’s urban centers have deteriorated. the disproportionate impact that poor housing conditions Many have been converted into poorly-maintained rental have on individuals who are low-income and people of color. properties, purchased by out-of-state investors, or abandoned More than 1,700 residents shared their personal challenges, by their owners to await demolition. Existing affordable housing observations, insights, and recommendations to guide the options are completely full with long waitlists, pushing the development of a strategy for improving housing conditions region’s most vulnerable populations into housing situations in Youngstown. The objectives of the strategy are to eliminate that are unaffordable, undesirable and unsafe. Poor abandoned properties, effectively regulate rental properties, neighborhood conditions and lack of quality, modern address nuisance properties, properly regulate community housing prevents higher-income households from residencies, assist owner-occupants with needed repairs, purchasing homes in the urban core. adequately prepare and incentivize homebuyers, and encourage the development of new and existing housing. This document presents a thorough, layered analysis of housing conditions in Youngstown and surrounding areas, 2 | Executive Summary KEY FINDINGS FROM Approximately 5,000 rental DATA ANALYSIS properties in Youngstown— representing 42% of all rental • The five-county region surrounding Youngstown—comprised units—are estimated to have of Mahoning, Trumbull, and Columbiana counties in Ohio, as well as Mercer and Lawrence counties in Pennsylvania—has lost minor code violations. nearly 100,000 residents since 1990. • Within Mahoning County, the employment base has decreased • The average home in Youngstown is worth $44,500—less than half by 4.8% (or 4,906 employees) since 2011. Even though the 2019 of the Mahoning County average of $103,400. Homes in Campbell unemployment rate of 5.8% has decreased in recent years, it and Struthers are also worth significantly less than homes in the remains relatively higher than the rate of Ohio and the U.S. While rest of the county. Of the 21 census tracts or neighborhoods in the region has a broad mix of wages by occupation, the area Mahoning County where the majority of residents are Black, Hispanic, has a high concentration of lower-wage jobs. Unemployment Latinx, or another race/ethnicity other than White—all of which are rates for February 2020 were 6.8% in Youngstown and 6.3% in located in Youngstown and Campbell—19 tracts have home values Mahoning County. While it is not fully known how the COVID-19 that are less than half that of the county as a whole. Youngstown’s pandemic will affect long-term unemployment, preliminary average home value—$44,500—is extremely low compared to national data suggests that many low-wage jobs lost during the the Ohio average of $140,000 and the US average of $204,900. pandemic may never return, which means unemployment in • While the purchase prices of homes in Youngstown are generally Mahoning County is likely to worsen for an extended period. affordable to the city’s low-income individuals, the homes are • Mahoning County’s low-income individuals—and particularly older and likely of lower quality that would require substantial its residents of color—are significantly impacted and dispropor- investment to repair and/or modernize. Many low-income tionately affected by unemployment, low household incomes, households are likely unable to afford these investments. and poverty. While the majority of residents in Mahoning • Very few homes in Youngstown are available at price points above County are White, most of the county’s residents of color— $100,000. There is likely significant opportunity for upscale for-sale primarily residents who are Black, Hispanic, or Latinx—live in housing with price points over $200,000, but given the lack of Youngstown and Campbell. More than half of those cities’ housing units for sale in this range, the city is at a significant census tracts or neighborhoods have unemployment rates disadvantage in its ability to attract higher-income households, twice as high as the county rate, median incomes less than who primarily purchase outside the city in Mahoning County. half of the county median, and/or poverty rates more than double the county rate. • Access to bank financing is a particular challenge in Youngstown and Campbell, which have 34% of the county’s • Housing units built before 1978 pose significant risk for housing units, but only 10% of the county’s mortgages were childhood lead poisoning. Housing age is oldest in originated there between 2013 and 2018. Mortgage rejection Youngstown, Campbell, and Struthers, where the county’s rates were

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