Governor Andrew M. Cuomo has announced $91 million in awards for shovel-ready projects to build affordable housing across the state. The low-interest loans and tax credits will build and preserve 2,060 units of affordable housing and are expected to leverage more than $485 million in grants, loans and private resources.
In Buffalo, People United for Sustainable Housing, Inc. has been allocated $3.5 million to continue its efforts to revitalize the west side. The Mass Ave. Community Homes project involves new construction of 28 rental units on vacant lots and rehabilitation of 18 rental units in 16 buildings (including entry image) in the Massachusetts Ave Green Corridor.
On the East Side, the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority was granted $3.3 million to continue with the A.D. Price housing replacement project. The funding, phase three of the project, will see fifty additional homes built on Spring, Adams, Monroe and Madison streets between William Street and Broadway (map right).
The funds were available through New York State Homes & Community Renewal (HCR)’s Unified Funding Application, a single-source process to apply for several funding streams for affordable, multifamily developments, part of the Governor’s efforts to break down the inefficient and duplicative silos that had previously governed state funding. In total, HCR will make 33 awards, totaling over $91 million in low-interest loans and tax credits that will build and preserve 2,060 units of affordable housing. The projects are expected to leverage over $485 million in grants, loans and private resources.
HCR Commissioner/CEO Darryl C. Towns said, “Governor Andrew Cuomo charged state agencies to bring state resources together with local and federal resources in the most productive way. For us, that means working with our partners, including local governments and many of our sister state agencies, to create and preserve affordable housing. We have found impressive projects in each and every region of the state that will make a real difference in local communities.”
In this round of funding, applicants competed for: low-interest loans through the Low-Income Housing Trust Fund Program (HTF); Federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC); the HOME Capital Program; and State Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (SLIHC).