#55 Oh give me a home

Transforming Warren

First Ward Councilman Rev. Todd Johnson, TNP Executive Director Matt Martin and Warren Mayor Doug Franklin

Transforming Warren will require us to create lots of new housing. The Peninsula development will include approximately 400 individual housing units, but that will only be a part of the solution. More housing is a regional need. Both the Warren-Youngstown Regional Chamber of Commerse and the Eastgate council of Governments have made it a priority. You can see an Eastgate plan here.

If there has been a new home built in the last 15 years, or more, in Warren, I am not aware of it. But that is all about to change. Ground was broken earlier this month for four new single family homes on the site of the old Emerson Elementary School on Warren's Northwest side.

The project is being managed by Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership and the Trumbull County Land Bank. Warren City Schools made the five-acre property available at no cost. Construction is being funded through the Ohio Department of Development's Welcome Home Ohio Fund. A more detailed report can be found here and here.

TNP and the Land Bank have demolished more than 1,000 vacant houses over the past 15 years. What is less well known is that they have also renovated and resold hundreds of formerly derelict houses, as well. The Emerson project is the first effort to take things to the next level. While it is just four houses, plans are already underway to expand this program in Warren, and there is at least one other project in the late planning stages, that will also build new homes in the city.

There has been some misunderstanding about the nature of the Welcome Home Ohio homes. While it is accurate to say that these houses are subsidized, these are not "Section 8" housing. Each of these 1400 square foot houses will cost around $300,000 to build. They will be sold at whatever the market will bear — probably around $180,000 each. The difference is funded by the state program, and while participants will have to meet certain income requirements, the ceiling for income will permit the majority of Warren residents to qualify.

Not everyone supports subsidized housing here in any form; in fact, a handful of residents in another neighborhood which was the first choice for these homes, objected loudly, and TNP chose to try a different neighborhood. The Northwest Neighborhood Association deserves credit for understanding the benefit these homes bring, which will include raising the value of all the homes in the neighborhood.

The homes will go into the MLS listings upon completion in the spring of '26.