Press Coverage

As the city of Youngstown plans to build newer and affordable houses and rehab existing ones, $8 million of American Rescue Plan funds will help the housing crisis in the city.

Efforts to clean up and demolish blighted properties in Youngstown appear to be paying off, according to the results of the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation’s latest citywide survey.

City council agreed to use $8 million of its American Rescue Plan funds to develop a plan to build new houses and rehabilitate existing structures. Council voted 7-0 Wednesday in support of the funding.

A community marketplace is planned for the former Bottom Dollar grocery store site at 2649 Glenwood Ave. that closed nearly nine years ago. Rose Carter, executive director of ACTION — Alliance for Congregational Transformation Influencing Our Neighborhoods — said the plan is to expand the organization’s mobile market to the South Side location about three days a week and offer a location for others to sell food and items.

A long-vacant building constructed more than a decade ago with the hope of ending the reputation of Youngstown’s Southside as a food desert could once again fulfill that promise.