07-04-2025
Housing Council identifying goals, looking to increase access to local housing
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) – The Youngstown-Warren Regional Chamber's Housing Council is looking at unique ways to increase access to housing in the area, including looking into the possibility of 3D-printed homes.
After holding its first meetings, the Housing Council is working on setting some goals to increase the area's housing stock. The council is also planning a future summit to bring together community leaders to take a better look at the issue.
Brenda Linert, director of community impact for the Regional Chamber, said the Chamber decided to form the council after seeing a need among its members.
'We consistently were hearing that one of the challenges — the biggest challenge that they're having right now — is finding workforce and then finding housing for their workers. A lot of times, these businesses were trying to hire people, and they couldn't find suitable housing in this area, so they were living out of the area and commuting in, which, you know, does not engage them well with the community and the businesses and all of the things that businesses want their workers to be involved with,' she said.
Linert said the council includes realtors, lenders and developers, as well as those with housing expertise in the public sector.
Linert cited the Eastgate Regional Council of Government's recent Housing Needs Assessment, which cited a shortage of smaller 1- or 2-bedroom homes in the area. She added that many homes in the inner cities have been demolished over the years due to poor conditions, and now there is vacant land that can be developed in those areas.
'We also need to not only build new homes, but also revitalize, renovate, upgrade existing homes, and like I said, some of the homes are really, really large and maybe too large for what we really need, so maybe they can be renovated into multiple units,' she said.
John Demmler, president and CEO of Seven Seventeen Credit Union, is part of the council, and he sees a need for housing in the area as well.
'One of the challenges in the Valley is that, if you look at Warren and Youngstown specifically, about one out of two homes are rentals. There's definitely a market need for rental properties, but we feel that the best way to be part of the community is to take an ownership stake in the community and to build equity and wealth in that process,' he said.
717 has several programs to help make home renovations more affordable, partnering with the cities of Warren and Youngstown for their facade programs. Demmler also cited the City of Youngstown's landlord renovation program, which allows landlords to borrow funds at a discounted interest rate and borrow up to $100,000 or $50,000 per property to bring properties up to code. 717 is also working on a program through the City of Youngstown to spur development on vacant lots.
Demmler said part of what the council is doing is looking at programs already in place that homebuyers and developers can take advantage of and increasing awareness of those programs. He said the goal is to make these home builds more affordable to compete with the rental market.
'Really, the need is for a housing solution in the $500 a month to $1,000 a month range, and the complications or challenges with providing housing solutions in that range are that it costs more to construct a new home today than what you can make into a monthly payment like that. It costs more to build a home than the appraised value after the home is built. So one of the main objectives of the council also is to help bring down the cost of housing, and we want to do that in a number of ways,' Demmler said.
Linert added that another goal the Housing Council is working toward is creating more uniformity for developers, as codes and the permitting process differ in local communities.
'One of the other goals that we have is to try to streamline the permitting process and to try to find uniformity in the regulations, so that hopefully… developers will want to come into the area, and it will ease the process for them,' Linert said.
One area of interest is the potential to use 3D technology. The City of Youngstown has been identified by the state as a hub for additive manufacturing, or 3D printing. Demmler said there is an interest among many Housing Council members as to whether this technology can be used to build homes in the area in a more affordable manner.
'I think that's going to be something we're going to look at providing some financial incentives and financing for a couple of spec homes with 3D-printed homes,' Demmler said.
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