Local builders and Mahoning Valley nonprofits collaborate on housing solutions
A second-generation local builder works with nonprofit organizations to revitalize and build new homes in the Mahoning Valley region his family calls home.
Joe Koch Jr. the vice president of Joe Koch Construction and a lifelong Austintown resident.
Joe Koch Construction has built over 1,500 homes in the Valley since 1988 and is on track to complete 50 more this year, including four homes on the former Emerson Elementary site in Warren.
Joe Koch Construction is contracted with the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation and the Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership to revitalize neighborhoods through strategic property redevelopment.
“Our construction team includes local vendors, subcontractors, and employees. My grandparents grew up on the North & West Sides of Youngstown, while my parents both went to Austintown Fitch,” Koch Jr. said. “We’re even building a home on Schenley Avenue on the West Side of Youngstown, right down the street from where my grandpa Koch was born and raised. Our company is deeply rooted in the Valley, so we have a huge, vested interest in what YNDC and TNP are doing. We firmly believe new, quality housing is a solution to preserve our community.”
In Youngstown, the Mahoning County Land Bank and YNDC recently broke ground on 16 new single-family homes in multiple locations on the north, south, west and east sides of the city.
The nonprofits selected Joe Koch Construction to turn the previously vacant lots into new homes, all with at least three bedrooms and a two-car garage for Youngstown families.
“YNDC and TNP are on the forefront of doing what’s called infill housing,” Koch Jr. said. “On most of the properties we build on, a home previously occupied the space before being demolished. These demolitions usually took place years and sometimes even decades prior to us building our new homes. YNDC and TNP didn’t invent this process, but they are tackling these projects in the most effective way.”
Koch Jr. said the organizations are strategically placing these new homes where they are needed most.
“In some areas, YNDC and TNP are building up to seven homes just on one street. In doing so, they’re enhancing the character and makeup of the street and neighborhood,” he said. “Once momentum is generated from building these new homes within a given neighborhood, the improvements become contagious. The neighborhoods selected are all very nice and adding a brand-new home will only energize the surrounding area in a positive way.”
Koch Jr. is also on the Youngstown Chamber of Commerce’s housing council, collaborating on strategies to support new housing opportunities to once-blighted properties.
“I feel we’re now pointing in the right direction to be able to make a difference and give the right recommendations to the people that can make positive change in many areas. This includes regulatory reform at the state and local government levels,” he said. “We’re also starting the conversation with companies that are within our region here to potentially participate in our new housing strategy. It will be a collective effort to fight off the challenges of population decline and all the other things that older cities and municipalities run into.”
