More units of affordable, decent, safe housing for New York. Good news!

Warren County

AHC approved a $195,000 grant to the Town of Queensbury to renovate 13
single-family homes.

St. Lawrence County

AHC approved:

–A $300,000 grant to the Association for Neighborhood Rehabilitation,
Inc. (ANR) to renovate 25 single-family homes.

–A $300,000 grant to the St. Lawrence County Housing Council, Inc.
(SLCHC) to rehabilitate 50 single-family homes.

Onondaga County

AHC approved a $300,000 grant to Home HeadQuarters (HHQ) to help
finance home improvements for 30 homes in the City of Syracuse.

Southern Tier

–A $300,000 grant to Arbor Development, formerly known as Steuben
Churchpeople Against Poverty, INC. (SCAP), to renovate 36 single-family
homes in Steuben County.

–A $300,000 grant to the Andover Historic Preservation Corporation for
the rehabilitation of 28 single-family homes in Allegany and Steuben
Counties.

–A $300,000 grant to the Allegany County Community Opportunities and
Rural Development Corporation (ACCORD) to renovate 50 single-family
homes in Allegany County.

Erie County

–A $500,000 grant to the Town of Cheektowaga’s Community and
Economic Development Office (CEDO) to finance home improvements for 17
housing units.

–A $200,000 grant to the Lackawanna Housing Development Corporation
(LHDC) to finance home improvements for 33 units in single and
two-family homes in the City of Lackawanna.

Long Island

–A $1.75 million grant to the Long Island Housing Partnership (LIHP)
for the acquisition and rehabilitation of 80 homes in Nassau and Suffolk
Counties as part of its “workforce housing” program.

–A $520,000 grant to Community Development Corporation of Long Island
(CDCLI) for the acquisition and rehabilitation of 16 single-family homes
in Nassau and Suffolk Counties.

Wow! The Upgraded Senate Website is just great!  Take a few moments and explore!  Add the rss feed to keep up!

The Senate is now planning public hearings in rural NY on the topic of affordable housing.  What do you want them to know? What specific issues do you want to address?

There WILL be a New York State Rural Rental Assistance Program to be used in application for the leveraged loan program with RD. While the Legislature was unable to overcome Administration resistance to restoring cuts to the Rural Rental Assistance Program (RRAP )which has been the key to New York’s success in leveraging federal Section 515 funds, Senate negotiators did succeed in including language that will allow new units of RRAP for the current year. Subsequently, funds to support the new units were provided through a $188,000 legislative add from Senator David J. Valesky (D-Oneida). As many as fifty new units can be supported by this funding in Rural New York.

Budget bills were introduced over the weekend based on an agreement between leadership, the “three men in a room”. The legislature is expected to vote on the bill this coming week. Of course, Senate Democrats still need to keep their slim majority together for the vote or there is a possibility the budget as it is written won’t pass.

Rural Advocates continue to play a significant role in the housing budget. Because of your efforts, the Preservation Program and Rural Rent once again remain more or less intact. If the budget passes as written, the Rural Preservation program will receive $5,770,700 This should result in RPC contracts that exceed $85,000 this year. In addition, the life time cap on both RPCs and NPCs has been eliminated. There is language that provides State Rental Assistance for potential new RD construction projects.  Expiring contracts are extended for one year.

Housing capital did not get an increase over the old baselines as proposed. RESTORE was funded as the Governor proposed at only $400,000. We will continue to work with DHCR to streamline administration of the capital funds that are available. Given the budget crisis we face, we are not surprised to see that IDDP, Main Street RARP and UI did not get funded. HTF was funded at $29 M and AHC at $25 M and HHAP is at $30 million.

It’s “crunch time” for the New York State Budget with efforts underway to complete it before the April 1 deadline. What can we report? The NYS Budget deficit has now grown to $16.2 Billion dollars. A significant gap to close The Governor is playing tough with the State announcing a layoff of 6% of the State work force if there is no effort to negotiate less generous benefits for new hires in a new State Tier as outlined in the Governor’s proposed budget Although we know that both the Senate and Assembly are working on the budget, there are no open meetings and less ability  to share any information at all.

We have heard that the legislature is considering some budget restorations and RPC/NPC looks “good”, but that no new programs are being considered. Although we are hopeful, we really can’t say with certainty if this means partial restoration or full restoration to last years funding. We are less hopeful about an increase in capital funds this year but certainly see the need for one to provide not only housing but true economic stimulus resulting in local trade and jobs.

We are hopeful that there will be an adequate allocation of Rental Assistance to support a new funding round of new construction of RD 515.

In early April there will be a notice of solicitation for applications for the RD 515 new construction program. NY always competed extremely well because it provided State Rental Assistance to leverage these funds. A State Allocation of Project Based Section 8 is not considered State Rental Assistance. Will NY have new Rental Assistance Units to use with this new 515 funding or will the federal money go to other States for the first time ever? With a timely budget and an allocation for State Rental Assistance, it is possible to leverage these federal rental housing funds for new units in rural NY.

http://www.pressrepublican.com/0100_news/local_story_074223337.html

For a story on the North Country RPCs and their impact on their communities

Governor Patterson has proposed cuts to affordable housing programs.  His budget cuts must be approved by the Senate and the Assembly.   Are there any comments you have to offer  as the Senate and Assembly prepare their budgets?  Do you have a question for the New York State Senate or New York State Assembly  Housing Chair?  Discussion for the DHCR Commissioner?  Plan to attend the NYS Rural Advocates Meeting in Albany, March 9 and10! Click on the agenda on the top of this page for more information

Join the NYS Rural Advocates on March 9th and 10th in Albany to inform  State  leadership about the housing needs of your community. Governor Patterson has cut the RPC and NPC Program. Can you weather this cut? The DHCR is cutting back on the Rural Rental Assistance Program. Can your tenants pay more rent? It’s not too late to get involved. Don’t let others do it for you; Get engaged!  Your voice must be heard to be effective! Contact ruraladvocates @gmail.com for more information