From eliminating blight to adding new housing, Youngstown leaders are working to attract people into the city.

"This housing project building a whole new neighborhood, new sidewalks, new street lights, newly paved street it's just one of those things we're trying to do to put that energy back into the citizens and let them know they are valued," First Ward Councilman Julius Oliver said. "This is how we feel about them and this is how we feel about our city," he said.

However, in a city that's consistently lost population for decades, what's going to make people stick around? Oliver said quality of life.

"There's no houses here with the modern amenities that they would want, there's no attached two car garages because most of the houses here had separate garages, there's no two, three bathrooms, you know," Oliver said. "These are the things that people are looking for, modern everyday amenities you know, that will give them a greater quality of life on the south side of Youngstown," he said.

Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation Executive Director Ian Beniston said the cost of these brand new houses and some of the perks that come with them will also attract new residents.

"We're looking probably at about $200,000 though, given what we see is the comps in the area, the quality of the product. Keep in mind this will also have the 15 year property tax abatement and be eligible for down payment assistance as well," Beniston said. "So if you purchase one of these, you do not have any property taxes on it, only the land which is a fairly small amount," he said.

This is all apart of a comprehensive plan to revitalize Youngstown.

"Our vision of the future is a neighborhood that's walkable where we have quality housing where we've been able to eliminate the blight and build on the assets that we have here," Beniston said.

When the three houses on Bernard street in Youngstown are complete, the city will be working on doing three more on this same street beginning in the Fall and changing the name of the street back to "Cliff Street."

"We want families to live on this new street and create new community in Youngstown and let that community-feel spread throughout the south side and the rest of the city," Oliver said. "This is going to be a new family street, a new neighborhood," he said. 

Over in Warren, Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership is working on doing the same thing. The Trumbull County Land Bank received $700,000 to build four new houses on a vacant lot on Devon street, the site of the former Devon School.

"Demand for quality affordable housing in the city of Warren is actually high. There is currently a shortage of units so we anticipate being able to sell these fairly quickly and easily. They will be market rate," Matt Martin, TNP Executive Director said. "We know that we're going in the right direction in terms of blight and vacancy but we also have mapped out a plan to where we need to build new units," he said.

Martin tells 21 News the goal is to make sure there's enough quality affordable housing in Warren.