ASHTABULA – During his tenure as Ashtabula’s city manager, Jim Timonere and his administration have removed a good deal of homes that could no longer be lived in.
Through the Welcome Home Ashtabula Affordable Homeownership Program, the city is now looking to replace those lost homes.
“We’ve demoed probably more than 400 houses in my tenure here with the city,” Timonere said during a kickoff meeting for Welcome Home Ashtabula. “Now that we’ve removed that housing stock, we’ve got to put that housing stock back. Obviously, the city can’t go around building its own houses, so programs like this are a huge shot in the arm for communities. Everybody knows we have a ton of rentals in the city. We would love to have more home ownership, and getting people out of their rent situations where they’re not creating equity and they’re not creating generational wealth, and into programs like this and houses like this. It could be altering for the city and for our community.”
Welcome Home Ashtabula is a program made possible through an Ohio Department of Development grant awarded to the Ashtabula County Land Bank.
“I do want to say it definitely takes a village to make this work,” Community Building Partners CEO Joe Ritchie said. “The Land Bank had to jump in and compete for these funds for the community. The City of Ashtabula stepped up with their capabilities and supporting it, getting the building permit process and expedited and all of that to make these homes a reality.”
The program is designed make homeownership possible for the residents of Ashtabula.
“This is an opportunity to build equity, to establish and control expenses going forward,” Ritchie said. “As you know, home ownership is sort of the linchpin, or the foundation, for building wealth for generations, and it’s a really important step forward.”
Through Welcome Home Ashtabula, a minimum of three homes will be built with the possibility for more.
“This is a very competitive process that Land Bank qualified for,” Julia Schaefer, Sustainability and Community Development Communications with Community Building Partners, said. “They secured $755,000 from the State of Ohio to build these homes, and we’re hoping to build up to six.”
The program will begin with three lots near the Ashtabula Area City Schools Bus Garage on West 34th Street.
“The lots are owned by the Ashtabula County Land Bank,” Schaefer said. “They send the lots over to us. We build a brand new home on them. We transfer them back to the Land Bank, which puts a discount on the house to give it to the home buyer.”
Buying one of the homes through the program is an accelerated process.
“That whole process from a home buyer being interested to building the homes can take four months or as little as 90 days,” Schaefer continued.
“We know that across the State of Ohio, there are not enough homes for the people who live and work here to move into,” Schaefer continued. “The goal is to build homes quickly to put people in a place to live.”
The homes are being built in neighborhoods in need of revitalization
“That’s kind of one of the other goals,” Timonere said. “Obviously, the first goal is home ownership and bringing brand new homes at a level where people can afford them, the working class, at a lower income rate where what people are spending on rent, they can actually be putting into a mortgage and creating that generational wealth. We’re rebuilding these neighborhoods.”
“A lot of the focus in this area has been demolition, so it’s really cool to be able to come back into this neighborhood, now that a lot of it has been cleaned up, to start making these investments in hopes that the homeowners that are here will see an increase in their property value, and they’ll start taking care of their homes a little bit better, as well,” Timonere continued.
The homes will be built in existing neighborhoods.
“It’s not a new development where there’s a lot of land being bought up and a bunch of homes being put there,” Schaefer said. “They’re built in existing neighborhoods. The goal is to keep people in the city where they already live and just have a new home.”
The houses being built will also match the neighborhoods they’re being built in.
“They’re not going to stick out like sore thumbs, even though they’re brand new,” Timonere said. “That was one of the goals when we started putting this program together with the developer. We said we wanted garages and we wanted them to be two stories so that it didn’t look like here’s an old neighborhood with houses in it, and then here’s this little new house sticking out like a sore thumb. The integrity of the neighborhoods is going to remain intact, which I think is very important.”
The buildings will be energy efficient, 1,300-square foot three bedroom, two-bathroom homes with a one-car garage and a front porch.
“They’re attractive, they’re brand new, and they’re made to fit a family in,” Schaefer said.
Each of the homes will be insulated with appliances that have Energy Star ratings.
“(The appliances will be) stainless steel, so they’re going to be as efficient as possible, meaning they don’t put a huge strain on your electric bill. Your refrigerator is always running. Your dishwasher pulls a lot of water and power. When you use those appliances, you’ll know that they’re not going to run up your electric bill every time the rates spike or it gets hot out. They’re really efficient,” Schaefer said. “(The homes) have a two-stage heating and cooling system, which essentially means that instead of pumping a bunch of hot air all the time, it adjusts as necessary, so it keeps your electric bill lower. It’s controlled by a smart thermostat. They have energy efficient windows.”
Appliances in the homes include a refrigerator, oven, microwave, dishwasher, washer and dryer.
“There’s no appliances they have to go out and buy,” Schaefer said.
The homes are pre-fabricated, meaning they’re built in a factory outside of Dayton in a controlled environment.
“They’re perfect the first time, and they’re the same every time, so there’s no surprises during the construction process, or as little surprises as we can get,” Schaefer said. “They’re delivered on-site, in a really, really cool fashion. A crane comes in and they put the first unit on the foundation and then the second unit. You watch your home be built in, basically, one day.”
Once the homes are assembled, crews will finish them on-site.
“We finish up your floor and plug in all the appliances, do some sealing and electrical wiring to ensure that everything is perfect,” Schaefer said. “A little bit faster, but it still has that local finishing touch.”
To qualify to purchase one of the homes, a person has to attend an open house before reviewing the available sites and options. Then they’ll have to work with a bank to get pre-approved for a loan.
The person then has to get their income qualified.
“You do that in-house, and it includes checking recent pay stubs, bank records and ensuring that your house is within that 80 percent of the (AMI) Area Mean Income or lower threshold,” Christian Hickman, project manager for Community Building Partners, said.
From there, a lot gets selected and the person can watch their home be built.
“Our turnaround from pre-approval to keys-in-hand is approximately four months,” Hickman said. “That construction process is less than 90 days.”
The homebuyers will take on a mortgage for $180,000.
“The homes cost about $280,000 to $300,000 to build, and with this program, it’s a subsidy, to make the sales to homeowners, of $100,000,” Hickman said. “The income range targets workforce and encourages home ownership for families.”
Participants in the program must agree to participate in financial literacy classes for one year.
“We are partnered with the Home Repair Resource Center,” Hickman said. “A lot of these are virtual courses. What these courses are, and why the state really requires financial literacy training, is buying a home is a big deal. There’s a lot of extra finances with it. They don’t want you to buy a house and then not have the tools to set yourself up for success and make sure that you can really feel comfortable in the home financially.”
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