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Thursday, July 16, 2026
YNDC and project partners broke ground for six new single-family homes coming to the City of Youngstown's west side. The groundbreaking took place at 605 S. Belle Vista in the Rocky Ridge Neighborhood.
Executive Director of YNDC Ian Beniston said YNDC has a long history of stabilization in the neighborhood. "Our work really started here over a decade ago working with the Rocky Ridge Neighborhood group, which remains one of the more active neighborhood groups in the city. Together with them and the city, we developed what we called the Rocky Ridge Neighborhood Action Plan. Within that, we had a lot of priority properties we needed to deal with to stabilize the neighborhood. Many of those, thankfully, the city and the land bank were able to eliminate, including the one where we are standing. Previous to today, we built back homes on several of those sites. Most recently, earlier this year we wrapped up houses right on Wilkinson."
There will be multiple models of new homes, each featuring at least three bedrooms, two bathrooms, an open-concept living, kitchen, and dining area, a first or second-floor laundry room, a front porch, and a two-car garage. The homes will be listed for sale upon completion and will include a 100 percent, fifteen-year property tax abatement on the new construction. At 605 S. Belle Vista, the model of home will feature four bedrooms, an option that was requested by multiple homebuyers.
Executive Director of the Mahoning County Land Bank Deb Flora said she hopes the number of ribbon cuttings and groundbreakings changes the attitude surrounding development in the region. "It is all signaling to the community that we are trying to increase what we are doing in the housing space, and that's because the partners understand how important this is in Youngstown, and beyond that, we have more housing options. Options at different price points. Options in the different styles and types of homes that buyers have desired. We were in this glut for a long time about housing unavailability, but hopefully with all of these announcements people are encouraged by housing availability."
The project is supported by American Rescue Plan funding from the City of Youngstown. The vacant lots were assembled by the City of Youngstown and Mahoning County Land Bank. This follows the completion of six new homes on the west side that have been sold to homeowners in addition to other neighborhood stabilization activities.
This groundbreaking brings the total number of new single-family homes under construction by YNDC to 34.