Neighborhoods

Tuesday, February 27, 2018

YNDC's free small business and housing counseling programs are available to Mahoning Valley entrepreneurs and prospective homebuyers.

The Small Business Development program, funded by the Burton D. Morgan Foundation and Ohio Community Development Corporation Association, is designed to help entrepreneurs in the Mahoning Valley reach their business goals with financial counseling.  Both established and aspiring business owners can access free financial counseling to assist with resolving credit issues, reaching financial goals, and preparing to seek business financing. YNDC is also a HUD-Approved Housing Counseling Agency dedicated to helping clients achieve sustainable homeownership by assisting clients with identifying and resolving barriers to homeownership in one-on-one counseling sessions. To enroll in either counseling program, please contact Tammi at 330.480.0423 today!

ACTION and the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. are sponsoring a free bus trip to Columbia, S.C., to confront Vision Property Management about its housing practices in the city.

The bus will depart at 4 a.m. Saturday from St. Edwards Church, 240 Tod Lane, Youngstown. Reservations can be made by calling 330-480-0423 or by filling out the form at http://ow.ly/ZHAO30hcqXO. To read the full story from The Vindicator, click here. 

You might have heard the term “zombie home” before. They are homes that are a big problem for Youngstown as blighted homes continue to plague the city’s neighborhoods.

Some of these homes still have their mortgages being held by banks and other lending institutions. There are plenty of stories of those worried about living next to blight. From drug activity to vagrants to fires that break out inside the abandoned properties. Hector Colon had complained about a blighted home on S. Garland Avenue next to his parent’s home – and then it caught fire. The house sustained smoke damage and it melted some of the siding off. It also put a hole in the roof. “I was concerned that this could happen with people dumping tires, trash, rodents. I was very concerned about that,” Colon said. There are efforts to board up the mess, but homeowners in one South Side neighborhood say those don’t go far enough. “I complain about the one there – the blue one. They tore the boards off the back and the front,” said Flora Betts, resident. But as we’ve discovered, many of these eyesores have someone holding the mortgage. In fact, of the nearly 500 homes torn down in recent years by the Mahoning County Land Bank, 45-percent of them have been targeted for foreclosure by a bank since 2004. “That foreclosure kind of trails off. The lender decides not to go all the way with the action and by that time the danger is done,” Betts said. Betts says these types of homes have a name, “zombies.” Unlike the “Walking Dead,” these don’t go anywhere. People abandon them and banks ultimately buy the mortgages through auctions or sheriff’s sales. To read the full story from WKBN, click here. 

Wednesday, February 28, 2018

On
Tuesday, February 27, YNDC held an open house for neighbors of the recent
rehabilitation project at 3465 Shelby Road in Cornersburg.

Sixteen neighbors
and community stakeholders attended to walk through and view the updated 3
bedroom, 2 bathroom home. 3465 Shelby Road is currently for sale for $60,000 to
owner-occupant buyers. For more information, call Tammi at 330.480.0423.

Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation's Jack Daugherty, land contract vendees Stephanie & Noel Winger & A.C.T.I.O.N. Executive Director Rosetta Carter.

To watch the full video from Vindy Talk Radio, click here.

The Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation (YNDC) is fed up with Vision Property Management.

It says the South Carolina housing company that owns houses in Youngstown is taking advantage of people.

“They have no real regard for our city, for our neighborhoods,” said Ian Beniston, executive director of YNDC.

Beniston said Vision buys houses in the city at a cheap price. He said the company then charges inflated interest rates through their rent-to-own contracts and sells homes that aren’t up to code.

That’s what Shirin and Franklin Moorehart said they found when they moved into their Vision home.

They said they agreed to the contract because they didn’t have much money and couldn’t afford pet deposits. To read the full story from WYTV, click here.

Tuesday, December 12, 2017

All concerned citizens of Youngstown are invited to join
A.C.T.I.O.N. and YNDC for a bus trip to Columbia, South Carolina to stand up to
Vision Property Management for their predatory practices in the City of
Youngstown.

The trip will take place March 3, 2018 and depart from St. Edward’s
Church (240 Tod Lane, Youngstown, Ohio 44504) at 4:00 am. Community leaders and
neighbors will be presenting Vision Property Management with a bill for damages
incurred by the city such as demolitions and legal costs associated with the
blight left behind by their housing practices. Those interested in attending
can fill out the form here or call
330.480.0423 to RSVP. The time for action is now! 

A bus with 55 concerned citizens from Youngstown joined ACTION and the YNDC on a protest trip to Columbia-South Carolina Saturday morning.

Members of the group say they plan to stand up to Vision Property management for what they call predatory practices in the city of Youngstown.

They accuse the management group of operating business practices that have harmed both residents and properties, renting homes to individuals using predatory land contracts. They say renters have agreed to the terms under the impression they were renting to own. 

After the contracts are signed, they say Vision Properties Management increased rent on customers, which in some cases resulted in evictions. To read the full story from WFMJ, click here.

Members of the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation and ACTION Youngstown got up early Saturday morning to hop on a bus to South Carolina.

The purpose? To meet with executives from Vision Property Management at their headquarters.

The group hopes to address what they’re calling unfair housing practices by Vision. They say Vision has been issuing predatory land contracts that lock people into agreements to pay far more for a home than what it’s actually worth and sticking them with the cost of repairs.

Some homes were so bad, they had to be torn down. When Vision doesn’t pay for that, it falls onto the city or the landbank.

So, YNDC Organizer Anika Jacobs says what they want is simple.

“What we want them to do is pay for the demos that have been done on properties that they own. Also, to get them to hopefully give back money to those who have lost their homes through Vision Property. We just want them to stop the predatory lending practices,” she said. To read the full story from WKBN, click here.

Members of the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation and ACTION Youngstown got up early Saturday morning to hop on a bus to South Carolina.

The purpose? To meet with executives from Vision Property Management at their headquarters.

The group hopes to address what they’re calling unfair housing practices by Vision. They say Vision has been issuing predatory land contracts that lock people into agreements to pay far more for a home than what it’s actually worth and sticking them with the cost of repairs.

Some homes were so bad, they had to be torn down. When Vision doesn’t pay for that, it falls onto the city or the landbank.

So, YNDC Organizer Anika Jacobs says what they want is simple.

“What we want them to do is pay for the demos that have been done on properties that they own. Also, to get them to hopefully give back money to those who have lost their homes through Vision Property. We just want them to stop the predatory lending practices,” she said. To read the full story from WYTV, click here.