NYS Affordable Housing Corporation Approves $300,000 to Help Western New York Seniors Renovate Homes

NEW YORK, NY (11/02/2007)(readMedia)-- The board of the New York State Affordable Housing Corporation (AHC) yesterday approved a $300,000 grant to help repair 56 homes of low-income senior citizens located in 13 counties in Western New York.

“This grant will help finance much needed repairs of homes of seniors throughout Western New York,” said Priscilla Almodovar, President and Chief Executive Officer of AHC. “We are very pleased to do our part to help improve the state’s aging housing stock and to ensure seniors have a decent place to live.”

The grant is one of 13 projects approved by AHC and the New York State Housing Finance Agency that will provide a total of $510 million in financing and grants for affordable housing. The actions will help build and renovate 1,182 affordable housing units across New York State.

With these actions, the agencies have now approved financing to create and preserve 4,739 units of affordable housing in New York State since January 1, 2007.

The grant to the Bishop Sheen Ecumenical Housing Foundation, a Rochester-based not-for-profit, will be made available for homeowners in Monroe, Allegany, Chemung, Schuyler, Steuben, Tioga, Tompkins, Cayuga, Livingston, Seneca, Wayne, Ontario and Yates.

The grant will help fund a $750,000 program to renovate homes that are substandard, unsanitary, deteriorated or have aged housing stock. The program also helps seniors with emergency repairs to correct faulty heating and electrical systems, replace roofs, doors, windows, plumbing fixtures and deficient water and septic systems.

Applicants are chosen on a first-come, first-serve basis with an emphasis on emergency repairs that eliminate health and safety hazards. Awards will be made to households with incomes no more than 112% of the AMI for each county; the income limits range from $45,584 to $58,576 for a family of four.

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AHC, a subsidiary of the New York State Housing Finance Agency, was established in 1985 to promote homeownership by low- and moderate-income households. Financial assistance approved annually by the New York State Legislature, combined with other private and public investment, is used for the construction, acquisition, rehabilitation and improvement of owner-occupied housing.

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