More affordable housing is coming to the Mahoning Valley. 

The Columbiana and Mahoning County Land Banks received millions in grants to build more homes and sell them at a low cost.

“We have so many people who need safe affordable housing and there's plenty of room,” Debora Flora, Executive Director of the Mahoning County Land Bank said. 

Mahoning County will get 19 new homes in and around Youngstown. They will all be at least three bedrooms and two bathrooms and will be priced under $180,000. 

The homes will go on space the land bank already owns but the exact locations haven't been announced.

In Columbiana County, some of the new homes will go on Orchard Hills Estates in Leetonia. The empty land on Hope Street across from the school will bring in six families.

“This is the growth and what we need in the community. It's going to help our school districts,” Kevin Siembida, the Mayor of Leetonia said. “That’s huge for us getting young new families into our community.”

The money for the construction came from the Welcome Home Ohio program. The goal is to keep people here and attract more to the open jobs in the area. 

“We’ve seen what the economy has done over the last couple of years and it’s just, housing prices have shot up and it’s really made it unavailable for probably the average house especially young families,” Siembida said. 

“It’s been a tight market, we're going to try to make it a little bit better by adding these products ... It’s stability for the individual and it’s stability for the community that we're tackling here,” Flora said. 

To qualify to buy, the household must earn less than 80% of the average median income. A guide to help calculate if you meet the income requirements can be found here. Buyers also must commit to staying in the home for five years to avoid any penalties.

The houses are expected to go on the market in the next few years. 

The Columbiana County Land Reutilization Corporation received $1.65 million in grants to build the homes in Leetonia. They also received $435,000 in grants to purchase, and $180,000 to rehabilitate, six homes in the Village of East Palestine.

The Mahoning County Land Reutilization Corporation received $5 million in grants to build their homes. 

The Mahoning County Land Bank has already received one of these grants before. They are in th e process of building 12 affordable homes in the City of Youngstown.  Some of those are new builds, others are being built on land where a dilapidated home was previously demolished.