The first of 50 homes to be built as part of a $23.5 million affordable housing initiative will be located in Cheektowaga.
The housing initiative, announced last year, is a partnership between Erie County and the City of Buffalo to build more badly needed starter homes for moderate-income families in Western New York.
The city is contributing $10 million to the project, while the county is chipping in $13.5 million. The money comes from the funds the city and county received through the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act.
“At this time very, very few people are building starter homes in Western New York and that’s basically because building costs are so expensive, and they’ve gone up dramatically since Covid,” said Jocelyn Gordon, executive director of the Buffalo Erie Niagara Land Improvement Corp.
BENLIC is a land bank, or a public authority that works with municipalities to buy vacant land and foreclosed homes, fix them up and sell them. The local land bank is managing this initiative, which may be the largest allocation in the nation for affordable infill housing, according to the Buffalo Office of Strategic Planning.
Five of the single-family homes will be built in Cheektowaga and the rest will be in Buffalo. Construction is expected to begin in September on the Cheektowaga homes, with the goal of completing them by April.
In Cheektowaga, the fives homes will go up on vacant lots on Hyland, Chapel, Northcrest and Long avenues. Construction in Buffalo will concentrate in the Old First Ward, West Side, Black Rock, Riverside, Kensington-Bailey and University Heights neighborhoods, Gordon said.
“These 50 have been selected because there’s a really strong market in the area, they’re surrounded by other houses,” Gordon said. “We’re not building on blocks that are completely blown. We’re trying to rebuild existing neighborhoods.”
The homes will all be about 1,500 square feet, with two or three bedrooms and one and a half bathrooms. Gordon said the homes would cost around $350,000 to build but will sell for between $240,000 and $280,000.
The land bank worked with Buffalo firm HHL Architects to design the houses to ensure they match the character and style of the existing homes in the neighborhood, Gordon said.
To qualify to purchase one of the homes, the buyer cannot earn more than three times the federal poverty guidelines. For example, a household of four can have a maximum annual income of around $93,000.
Buyers can increase their income after buying the house, but at the time of purchase, their income must meet the criteria, Gordon said. And when the homeowner eventually sells their house, they must sell it to someone who also meets the income requirements to keep the homes affordable into the future.
“This is really workforce housing,” Gordon said. “These are people who need that extra leg up to try to get into homeownership.”
The land bank worked with Buffalo firm HHL Architects to design the houses to ensure they match the character and style of the existing homes in the neighborhood, Gordon said.
To qualify to purchase one of the homes, the buyer cannot earn more than three times the federal poverty guidelines. For example, a household of four can have a maximum annual income of around $93,000.
Buyers can increase their income after buying the house, but at the time of purchase, their income must meet the criteria, Gordon said. And when the homeowner eventually sells their house, they must sell it to someone who also meets the income requirements to keep the homes affordable into the future.
“This is really workforce housing,” Gordon said. “These are people who need that extra leg up to try to get into homeownership.”
Source: The Buffalo News
