Eastgate, Partners Launch Mahoning Valley Regional Housing Strategy

January 24, 2025

The plan includes regional and localized recommendations to stabilize and strengthen the housing market in the region

Youngstown, OH - Eastgate Regional Council of Governments and partners today unveiled the Mahoning Valley Regional Housing Strategy, a plan to stabilize and strengthen the housing market in the Mahoning Valley.

Developed by the Greater Ohio Policy Center and Reinvestment Fund, with coordinating support from the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, and funded by Eastgate and The Youngstown Foundation, the strategy encompasses the full range of housing, from luxury market-rate to housing that serves the region’s most vulnerable populations.

It offers data-driven recommendations about policy, program and funding adjustments that can help set the course for a better functioning housing market.  The actions outlined in the recommendations will encourage the types of housing that are needed and desired in individual jurisdictions and neighborhood-level sub-markets.

Jim Kinnick, Executive Director of Eastgate Regional Council of Governments, said, “We are excited to have this blueprint for action. The strategy provides recommendations and early implementation steps that will build on the strengths we have, address our unique challenges and will help align efforts throughout the Mahoning Valley.”

The Strategy recommends regional and localized Initiatives.

Regional initiatives require cross-sectoral partnership and new programmatic development. They are designed to address shared issues in a strategic, coordinated way.  Proposed new regional initiatives include:

  • A housing consortium formed by Eastgate
  • An emerging developers training program
  • Coordinated zoning adjustments
  • Downpayment assistance programs
  • To proactively assemble land

Localized initiatives can be implemented by individual actors in their own communities at any time. They include strategies that are customizable to local governments, nonprofits, social service agencies and developers, and for different market conditions.  The recommendations focus on:

  • Protecting the existing housing stock and preventing decline
  • Enhancing existing neighborhoods and supporting residents
  • Protecting vulnerable populations
  • Lowering barriers to development and redevelopment

Said Alison Goebel, Director, Greater Ohio Policy Center, “Our research indicates that private, public, and philanthropic partners are ready to roll up their sleeves and that the region has what is needed to strengthen and revitalize the area’s housing market.”

View the full strategy and related data analysis here. (If this hyperlink doesn’t work, copy the URL www.eastgatecog.org/Housing-Strategy into your browser.)

Said Guy Coviello, Regional Chamber President & CEO, “The Mahoning Valley Regional Housing Strategy is a good start to address the housing issues impacting Trumbull and Mahoning counties. We are eager to move forward and embrace the challenge to provide suitable, affordable and abundant housing for a growing workforce in the Mahoning Valley.”

"This study, with its specific recommendations for action steps, fulfills an important community need and represents exactly the type of professional guidance the Youngstown Foundation is pleased to invest in," said Lynnette H. Forde, President of the Youngstown Foundation. "We are very excited about moving forward to capitalize on the opportunities this study has revealed."

About Eastgate Regional Council of Governments

Eastgate Regional Council of Governments is a voluntary association of local governments in Northeast Ohio, Ashtabula County, Mahoning County, Trumbull County, and all cities, villages, and townships in the counties are members. Eastgate is directly responsible for a variety of federal, state, and local planning and project implementation programs. As a Metropolitan Planning Organization, an Area wide Water Quality Management Agency, an Economic Development District, and an Appalachian Regional Commission Local Development District, Eastgate continues to maintain required certifications and planning documents to qualify the region for federal and state funding.

About Greater Ohio Policy Center
Greater Ohio Policy Center (GOPC) is a non-profit, non-partisan organization with a mission to improve Ohio’s communities through smart growth strategies and research. Our vision is a revitalized Ohio. We undertake original research and analysis, develop pragmatic policy recommendations and advocacy strategies, and deploy our convening power to meet the needs of Ohio’s local change-makers. We operate statewide.

About Reinvestment Fund
Reinvestment Fund is a leading innovator in the financing, analysis, and design of neighborhood and economic revitalization efforts. RF’s mission is to create opportunity for underserved people and places through partnerships. RF marshals the capital, analytics, and expertise necessary to build strong, healthy, and more equitable communities. RF is recognized nationally for producing objective research on residential and commercial market conditions, equitable development, fair housing, mortgage foreclosures and eviction.

About the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber

The Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber is the Valley’s leading business advocacy organization, providing services and programs to promote the growth of its nearly 3,000 members and their 150,000 employees across the region. Through a robust public policy program and the management of transformational economic development-focused initiatives, the Regional Chamber is working to create a landscape that is favorable for our continued, future and sustained economic growth. For more information, visit regionalchamber.com.  

About the Youngstown Foundation

Since 1918, the Youngstown Foundation has devoted its resources to ensuring the quality of life and sustaining a vital and prosperous community in the Mahoning Valley. The Youngstown Foundation has grown from $33,000 in assets at its origins to over $150 million today and has distributed over $100 million back into the community through grants to support nonprofit organizations. The foundation remains poised to address the most pressing issues and support actions and ingenuity to ensure that our community continues to grow and thrive, with no one left behind. Further information is available at www.youngstownfoundation.org.

Photo: Guy Coviello, president & CEO of the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, discusses the Chamber's role in the new Mahoning Valley Regional Housing Strategy during its rollout Jan. 16 at the Public Library of Youngstown & Mahoning County. The strategy contains recommendations to stabilize and strengthen the housing market in the Mahoning Valley.

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