Syracuse City Officials to Seek Bold New Powers to Promote More and Better Housing
Industry Update
November 28, 2023
Source: syracuse.com
Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh wants to create a new arm of government that would allow the city to own and manage apartment buildings and help private homeowners fix up their homes.
Walsh has asked the city council to create a housing trust — a separate public authority with its own board and mission, and the power to issue bonds, make loans and award grants.
The goal is to boost quality, affordable housing in a city in crisis.
It would give the city game-changing powers to take on long-neglected housing problems that don’t fit the molds of other government programs. It comes at a time when quality housing is scarce and an increase in demand is imminent.
A study released in March exposed two related problems in Syracuse: Most residents can’t afford market-rate housing. And the cost to rehabilitate existing homes often exceeds their worth.
A survey of the more than 35,000 residential properties in Syracuse found that one-third showed signs of “chronic disinvestment,” syracuse.com | The Post-Standard reported in March.
Many of the existing nonprofit housing agencies and streams of funding are too specific to fix the problem — focusing, for example, on homelessness or lead paint remediation in homes with children, said Michelle Sczpanski, the city’s deputy commissioner of neighborhood development.
A housing trust could be flexible enough to build new housing and to encourage private landlords and homeowners to make improvements, city officials say.
The first step is to create the trust and accept a $5 million grant already awarded in last year’s state budget.
The next steps, defining the mission and identifying specific projects, are still in development.
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