Mayor Byron W. Brown marked the completion of the second phase of the City’s Home Ownership Zone initiative. Over half of the 28 homes built on Hickory, Myrtle and Swan Streets have been sold to low- to moderate-income homeowners.
Funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and subsidies secured through HSBC Bank USA, NA from the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York’s Affordable Housing Program, the properties were developed by a partnership teaming the Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency with non-profit New Opportunities Community Housing Development Corp.
“The Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency is pleased to be a partner in this important project,” said Mayor Brown. “With Buffalo’s aging housing stock, we have seen an increase in demand for new, maintenance-free homes. This project is great because it helps people realize their dreams of homeownership and it beautifies streets that were abandoned or filled with boarded-up homes.”
New Opportunities President Elizabeth Huckabone noted that her organization is proud to play a continuing role in this important effort, which is building on the success of the project’s 19-home first phase in 2006 to expand the opportunity for home ownership to more area families. “The fact that all 13 of the available homes on Hickory were purchased in less than seven months,” Huckabone added, “demonstrates our community’s on-going compelling need for quality affordable housing.”
Three home designs are available, each with four bedrooms, one and a half-baths, 1,492 to 1,725 sq.ft. of living space, maintenance-free exteriors and attached one-car garages.
The eight purchases completed on Hickory Street have been priced at $107,000 to $110,000. Four of the homes on Myrtle Avenue between Cedar and Spring streets are sold leaving nine properties still available for income-qualifying buyers.
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