Sen. Sean Ryan secures $80M for two pilot housing programs, $10M for eviction assistance (The Buffalo News)
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It’s a far cry from the $1.1 billion package that he was pushing in January to create hundreds of new starter homes and rehab thousands of affordable apartments across upstate New York, but State Sen. Sean Ryan has succeeded in getting his fellow lawmakers in Albany to approve $80 million to test out his concept.
As part of the series of bills to pass the new state budget, the state Legislature backed a pair of pilot programs as a “proof of concept” for Ryan’s proposed housing plan to create more safe and affordable homes in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Albany and Binghamton.
The first program will provide $40 million to New York State Homes and Community Renewal for construction of affordable one- and two-family homes in the upstate cities. That funding is intended to cover the construction costs and subsidize the sale of the homes to low- and moderate-income homebuyers.
The goal of the infill housing program is to revive struggling neighborhoods, while enabling those who have been priced out of the housing market to still become homeowners. It was initially proposed by Ryan specifically for Buffalo, to solve the city’s scarcity of affordable housing and generate more tax revenue, but the Senate saw an opportunity to help other cities as well.
However, with an estimated construction cost of $300,000 to $400,000 per new house – roughly the minimum going rate – that’ll produce only 100 to 130 houses.
The second program, also with $40 million, will provide grants to small landlords to make major improvements to their rental properties. In exchange, the rehabbed units must be rented at an affordable rate as set by the state HCR for 10 years. The goal is to add more affordable but high-quality units to the rental market.
Ryan’s original five-year plan, dubbed “The City of Good Neighborhoods,” had featured $800 million to construct 2,000 starter homes in Buffalo and grants of up to $75,000 per unit to improve 4,000 affordable rental units each year in four cities. It also included emergency shelter assistance, as well as an energy-efficient program.
Instead, the state will use the two pilots to test out the initiatives and determine how to run them most effectively. If successful, once they’re up and running, the programs can be scaled up with additional funding in the future, Ryan noted.
Ryan also secured another $10 million to help renters in counties outside of New York City to get access to emergency funds for households that are facing eviction because of unexpected financial challenges. The goal of the smaller program, which will be administered by the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance based on community need, is to keep people in housing, pay off their delinquent rents and relieve pressure on overwhelmed shelters.
“Affordable housing shortages are a statewide problem,” Ryan said. “This significant investment in upstate housing will allow us to build more homes, get more rental units onto the market, and prevent families from being evicted in cities across the state. Taken together, these investments represent a major step forward to address the housing crisis facing our region and our state as a whole.”
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