Bu\ufb00alo, NY \u2014\u00a0Bu\ufb00alo Mayor Christopher P. Scanlon today, alongside Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz, the Bu\ufb00alo Erie Niagara Land Improvement Corporation (BENLIC), and other local leaders, broke ground on a transformative housing initiative that will bring 47 new a\ufb00ordable single-family homes to long-vacant lots across the City of Bu\ufb00alo. The $24.5 million investment, funded jointly through American Rescue Plan dollars from the City and County, represents the largest in\ufb01ll housing program Bu\ufb00alo has seen in decades.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday is a proud day for the City of Bu\ufb00alo and a bold step forward in how we invest in our neighborhoods,\u201d said Mayor Scanlon.\u00a0\u201cThanks\u00a0to\u00a0the partnership between my administration, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz, BENLIC, and our dedicated project team, we\u2019re\u00a0transforming 47 city-owned vacant lots into new, a\ufb00ordable, single-family homes across Bu\ufb00alo. These homes are about more than construction\u2014they represent stability, opportunity, and a path to generational wealth for families throughout our city.\u201d<\/p>\n
This groundbreaking marks the start of construction on the \ufb01rst 47 homes, with properties being developed in the Riverside, Black Rock, Ken-Bailey, University Heights, Lower West Side, and Old First Ward neighborhoods. Each unit will be available for income-quali\ufb01ed homebuyers, with a\ufb00ordability standards designed to ensure housing access for working families.<\/p>\n
Mayor Scanlon also announced that a second phase of the initiative is already in planning, with an additional 30 homes to be built primarily on Bu\ufb00alo\u2019s East Side, including in the Masten District.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis project has been a top priority for me since day one,\u201d Scanlon said.\u00a0\u201cWhen I became Mayor six months ago, I wanted to make sure this City and County-led in\ufb01ll program would deliver real results. Thanks to collaborative cost savings and construction solutions, we\u2019re now building even more homes than originally planned\u2014and we\u2019re just getting started.\u201d<\/p>\n
The homes will be constructed using a combination of traditional stick-built and modular housing, designed\u00a0by\u00a0HHL\u00a0Architecture\u00a0and\u00a0Champion\u00a0Homes.\u00a0All\u00a0properties\u00a0will\u00a0be\u00a0reserved\u00a0for income-quali\ufb01ed buyers, with a purchase subsidy to assist families achieve new home-ownership opportunities.<\/p>\n
Total\u00a0investment:\u00a0$24.5\u00a0million\u00a0(City\u00a0of\u00a0Bu\ufb00alo\u00a0and\u00a0Erie\u00a0County\u00a0ARPA\u00a0funds)Phase\u00a01:\u00a047\u00a0homes\u00a0Across\u00a0the\u00a0City\u00a0of\u00a0Bu\ufb00aloPhase\u00a02:\u00a030\u00a0additional\u00a0homes\u00a0planned\u00a0on\u00a0Bu\ufb00alo\u2019s\u00a0East\u00a0SideAll\u00a0homes\u00a0reserved\u00a0for\u00a0income-quali\ufb01ed\u00a0homebuyersMixed\u00a0construction\u00a0models:\u00a0stick-built\u00a0and\u00a0modularProject partners: BENLIC, Bu\ufb00alo Construction Consultants, HHL Architecture, Champion Homes<\/p>\n
\u201cThis\u00a0is\u00a0an\u00a0exciting\u00a0and\u00a0rewarding\u00a0day\u00a0as\u00a0we\u00a0break\u00a0ground\u00a0on\u00a0the\u00a0\ufb01rst\u00a0of\u00a047\u00a0new\u00a0a\ufb00ordable, single-family homes in the City of Bu\ufb00alo,\u201d said Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz.\u00a0\u201cErie County\u00a0government and our partners are once again addressing a problem the private sector\u00a0either cannot or will not address. Our team identi\ufb01ed a gap in the marketplace for smaller\u00a0footprint, modest starter homes. We know that we can\u2019t tackle the housing crisis completely, but we\u00a0can do our part to get more units online at a price which is a\ufb00ordable to working families in\u00a0Erie\u00a0County.\u00a0I\u00a0thank\u00a0our\u00a0partners\u00a0in\u00a0the\u00a0City\u00a0of\u00a0Bu\ufb00alo,\u00a0including\u00a0Mayor\u00a0Chris\u00a0Scanlon,\u00a0BENLIC, and Bu\ufb00alo Construction Consultants for the two years of hard work, negotiation, and\u00a0collaboration that brought this project to fruition. And this is only the beginning!\u201d<\/p>\n
BENLIC Executive Director Jocelyn Gordon said,\u00a0\u201cBENLIC is in a unique position to address the critical shortage of a\ufb00ordable, new, single-family housing in the City of Bu\ufb00alo. Community planning leaders representing both Erie County AND the City of Bu\ufb00alo sit at our Land Bank table and meet monthly to discuss this region\u2019s a\ufb00ordable housing future. We are grateful to our County and City leadership for their collaborative commitment to advancing solutions for Bu\ufb00alo families. Together, we recognize that these solutions require an a\ufb00ordable housing program – not just a one-time project. This development of 47 homes is just the beginning: we\u2019re excited to build on this momentum, sustain this program for the long term, and continue implementing solutions that create stable neighborhoods for City of Bu\ufb00alo residents.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bu\ufb00alo, NY \u2014\u00a0Bu\ufb00alo Mayor Christopher P. Scanlon today, alongside Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz, the Bu\ufb00alo Erie…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":90666,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[136,138,137],"class_list":{"0":"post-90665","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-erie","8":"tag-erie","9":"tag-erie-headlines","10":"tag-erie-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90665"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90665\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}