SitemapFor many years, the community of Youngstown has been underserved by banks, in terms of receiving loans in order to purchase homes.
In fact, there are few programs that actually inform and educate the inner city communities of the importance of good credit, how to maintain it or how to rebuild it if necessary. Schools aren’t requiring students to learn healthy banking, saving and spending habits into their curriculums, and young adults are pushed out into the world to fend for themselves, with no knowledge of how to maintain a healthy financial state. It seems like there is no hope for the people of Youngstown who would like to become homeowners, but Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation is working very hard to combat and eventually extinguish the problems faced by underprivileged communities
Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation or YNDC was founded in 2009. It was a collaboration between the City of Youngstown and the Raymond John Wean Foundation. The team saw a need for the communities in the city to be revitalized and to make homeownership for the community achievable and affordable. YNDC’s goal is to create a more sustainable city, using the available resources more wisely, and utilizing a strategic model to do so. Housing director, Tiffany Sokol spoke with YoLife in depth about the goals and plans of YNDC, the process by which they obtain and remodel homes and how YNDC helps to get families into their homes
Anyone is able to purchase a home from YDNC, but the bulk of their clientele happens to be people with low to moderate income, or who are unable to be approved for a loan from a bank. “What we do is we work with those people in our HUD approved housing counseling program. [We have] a program where we pull people’s credit reports, look over their financial situation, help them develop a household budget, and then we look at all that information, and determine what steps they need to take to get themselves to a place where they can get a home loan,” Sokol shares. After a client comes to YNDC about purchasing a home, and the budget and action plan has been written up for them, YNDC actually meets with the client, once a month, to make sure that they are on track, until they are able to meet the goal of getting a home loan
As if that already wasn’t great news to hear, Sokol lets us in on additional help that YNDC is able to offer to a person who may fall just short of being able to receive a home loan from a bank. “We actually offer financing, […] so they can go through the community loan fund too, […] then of course they will be able to buy one of our homes that are beautiful and totally a great value.” Since 2009, YNDC has acquired and rehabilitated forty-five vacant properties for re-sale, in addition to rehabilitating, repairing and maintaining thirty-five homes that are occupied by low to moderate income home owners
With the decline in the economy in recent years, and while working class America is trying to stay afloat, one may ask, ‘ what is the big deal about buying a home, when I could just rent and call it a day?’ Sokol gives insight on how homeownership is a better option opposed to renting. She says, “first off, there’s the obvious direct benefit of owning a home, you’re making an investment in yourself and in your future. When you’re renting you’re just paying for a place to stay for the month, then the next month you have to pay again. Certainly, with homeownership, typically for the first thirty years you make a payment every month, but at the end of the thirty years, you have something tangible to hold on to.” In addition to having something to hold on to after the mortgage is paid off, it is evident that the homeowner has stronger ties to the community. “It’s for [the homeowner] them, yes, but they are also looking at it like, ‘this is for my kids, because one day I won’t be here and they’ll have an asset,’” Sokol explains, “[…] It provides a sense of security too, because you’re not moving around every year. […] if you’re buying a home you’re a little more committed to it.” Sokol also elaborates on the benefits that homeowners bring to the greater community as well, “If you own your home, you’re going to be taking pride in that, and going to be maintaining it to a higher standard than a landlord or a renter, and so it’s a win-win for everyone.”
As previously mentioned, YNDC is responsible for the homes they acquire, which may be through donation or purchase, and for the renovation of the home before placing it on the market. YNDC’s acquisition process of a home could take about a year, yet, after it’s acquired, it takes about forty-five days to complete renovation. The construction is done by a hired team within YNDC, however there are no open positions available to work in that field. However, if anyone would like to be involved with YNDC there are a few opportunities that are available. The AmeriCorps, service program at YNDC allows people of the community to be a part of the YNDC movement. Sokol explains, “It’s service, but the folks who do it, do receive a living stipend. It’s a one year term of service, forty hours a week and we have two types, AmeriCorps VISTA […] and Revitalize Team positions available.”
The VISTA portion deals with administrative and outreach based work. This team works in the office, and in the community to spread the word about YNDC. The Revitalize Team actually does hands on work at the renovated homes doing landscaping, and in the winter months this team gets to work alongside the construction team. Once the year of service is completed for YNDC, volunteers will become eligible to receive an education award of five-thousand plus dollars, to put toward student loans, or toward continuing education at community college or trade school. In addition to the volunteer opportunities, there are also internship opportunities for soon-to-be and recent college graduates. YNDC always encourages students who are looking to become an intern to send their in their resume to be contacted when a position becomes open
The future of YNDC is looking very bright. Sokol admits, “I think that one day I am going to retire from YNDC, and there’s still going to be work to do—there’s no shortage of work to do in the city of Youngstown.” In the next ten years, the goal for YNDC is to keep doing the things that the corporation has been doing, but on a greater scale, making a greater impact
Sokol and the rest of the YNDC team is working diligently to make sure that the twenty homes they’ve remodeled in 2015 is significantly increased in 2016, and even more in the years to come. “One way of doing that is [we’re] working to become a CDFI (Community Development Financial Institution) with the US Treasury to get more resources in order to lend more money on the homes that we have available to buy,” Sokol mentions. She adds, “Our primary demographic is not necessarily the African American community, but that is one community that has historically been underserved in terms of getting financing, but we are working to help all the populations that have been underserved, which is most of Youngstown, and working to help those folks become homeowners, which is a big part of what we do whether you’re African American, Hispanic or just low income [...]. We’re doing our best to see to it that we help as many people become homeowners and at the same time help our city be the best city it can be by bringing people back into the city.” YNDC is located at 820 Canfield Road, Youngstown, OH 44511 and any questions can be answered by calling 330-480-0423 or by visiting the website www.yndc.org
To read the whole story from YoLife, click here.