​8 new homes planned in Shelby amid broader housing push

By David Jacobs

Shelby could add eight new homes by the end of the year, including a six-home development mostly on Second Street through the Welcome Home Ohio Program, municipal government officials said.

The largest project is a partnership involving the Richland County Land Bank and a developer to build six brand new approximately 1,300-square-foot, two-story homes each, most of them on Second Street. Each home would include a basement, a full slab with a nice front porch and the same floor plan, although exterior colors may vary.

“We’re not all the way there, but we’re working on it,” Shelby Community and Economic Development Director Jeff Parton told a City Council committee on July 30.

The Welcome Home Ohio Program provides grant funding issued to a developer to incentivize the building of a new house and sell it below its construction cost, Parton said.

“The grant bridges the gap to make it worth it for a developer to build a new house and sell it below what they have in it,” Parton said.

The homes are expected to have a maximum sale price of an estimated $220,000.

A “caveat to the deed restriction” and initial qualification was mentioned for the prospective new homeowner. “They have a maximum ceiling of how much they can earn to qualify to buy this house,” Parton said.

Buyers must meet income eligibility requirements, with household income limited to 120 percent of the area’s median income, “which is pretty generous,” Parton told the committee

“For one person, it’s like $77,000, and it goes up from there quite a ways if you’ve got five or six people that live with you,” Parton said. “So it’s plenty flexible there. But the idea is that it sort of helps the more working class person be able to get into a brand new home at an affordable starting price, I suppose is the best way to say that.”

Expanding Shelby housing opportunities has been identified as a key priority in the community.

Photo by David Jacobs

The Welcome Home Ohio grant program is through the state government.

Parton serves on the Richland County Land Bank board with a role on the committee for the development of the six new Shelby homes.

“It’ll be done in one phase,” Parton said. “All six will be built. And then they’ll all be marketed and for sale and available for people to talk about.”

Marketing information is planned.

“Prior to them even being constructed, we’ll get the marketing out. We’ll have the details out so people can see it,” Parton said.

“I’d like to bring it to City Council to share with you guys,” he said. “I’ll get it out into the media and so that people can have all the information they need if they have an interest in this.”

“And then they can work with their lenders if they need a lender to qualify and work with the developer to buy it if they’re interested,” Parton said.

“So I’m planning by the end of the year, if all things go well, we’re hoping to have six new homes constructed on the north end,” he added.

Shelby Mayor Steve Schag said the development would be located in the vicinity of Carefree Estates.

“That is sort of the northern part of Second Street, which is a nice area there to develop,” Schag said.

A separate partnership also is producing a new home at 22 Summit St.

“That was another deal I put together with the Richland County Land Bank and a developer friend of mine,” Parton said.

The residence is an approximately 1,200-square-foot ranch home with an attached garage, a metal roof and a “nice facade,” Parton said.

He said it is expected to be listed for about $203,000.

“That same developer would like to do a two-story version on Second Street on one of the lots that we think we’re going to have available there too,” Parton said.

“So I’d say if things go well, we’ll have eight new homes by the end of the year,” he said.

Mayor Schag added: “Housing is a big need.”

Photo by Taylor Heery on Unsplash

The homes are intended to serve buyers between subsidized housing and higher-priced market-rate developments elsewhere in Richland County.

“I don’t know if you want to call a $200,000 structure affordable, but I would call it attainable,” Parton said. “And that’s kind of the sweet spot of what we’re trying to build right now.”

“There’s other development that’s happening around the county that’s more market rate. And then there’s some things that are subsidized for low income, but this is kind of in the middle,” Parton said.

The homes are intended to appeal to buyers looking to leave the rental market and homeowners seeking a newly built home with less maintenance.

“And again, that white and blue collar customer who’s looking to maybe no longer rent or maybe they like to sell their house, get into something brand new,” Parton said.

“These are in the 1,300-square-foot range, so maybe they want a little bit less house to manage and take care of. So we’re hoping for all these reasons that they’ll be attractive and they’ll market well,” he said.

Separately, the Millstone modular housing development on Lee Street also is making progress with one unit now in place.

“They’ve got one unit in place,” reported Shelby City Councilman and committee chairman Daniel Reese, who on Aug. 3 is expected to brief the full Shelby City Council on committee matters.

Groundbreaking was held in April for the Millstone Modular Home Community in Shelby. “Plans are to provide 48 homes with the inclusion of a nice walking path and playground,” Mayor Schag detailed in his 2026 State of the City address.

Utility work remained underway at the Lee Street site.

“They’re still running electric out there,” Schag told the committee on July 30.

Councilman Reese of Ward 3 expressed enthusiasm about the new construction planned for Shelby.

“That’s a lot of houses,” he said. “That’s great.”

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