Senator Kennedy Announces State Funding for Emergency Home Repairs for Seniors in Buffalo

$50,000 Grant from NYS Homes and Community Renewal for West Side Neighborhood Housing Services will Support Emergency Repairs for Homes Owned by Senior Citizens in Buffalo.

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Senator Tim Kennedy, D-Buffalo, today announced new state funding for emergency home repairs for seniors living in the City of Buffalo within the service area of West Side Neighborhood Housing Services. Kennedy provided key support to help urge approval of $50,000 in grant funding, awarded through the RESTORE Program, that will be directed to West Side Neighborhood Housing Services. These funds, which are administered through New York State Homes and Community Renewal, will be used to finance emergency home repairs on approximately ten homes owned by senior citizens.

“When local seniors on fixed incomes are struggling, the last thing they should have to worry about is their homes falling into a dangerous state of disrepair,” said Senator Tim Kennedy. “This funding will help seniors, who cannot afford emergency repairs, to immediately fix health and safety hazards and ensure their homes are fully up to code. This effort will strengthen Buffalo’s aging housing stock, and advance our collective goal of ensuring all Western New Yorkers have access to safe and affordable housing. West Side Neighborhood Housing Services has done tremendous work to revitalize our community, and I’m thrilled they will now have these additional resources to boost the neighborhood.”

Linda Chiarenza, executive director of West Side Neighborhood Housing Services, said, “We’re very pleased to have this chance to help senior citizens, a vulnerable group of people who live in our neighborhood, with this much-needed source of funding from the state. We are always looking to help our neighbors, and we maintain special focus on supporting seniors and people with disabilities. With Senator Kennedy’s support, we were able to successfully secure new resources from the state to invest in our neighborhood, help seniors and restore our aging housing stock.”

New York State’s Residential Emergency Services to Offer Repairs to the Elderly, or RESTORE, Program directs funding to municipalities or non-profit organizations that administer the program locally. The $50,000 in state funding awarded to West Side Neighborhood Housing Services will be used to cover the cost of necessary emergency repairs to address hazardous or dangerous conditions of homes owned by senior citizens who cannot afford the repair work.

To gain access to this emergency home repair funding, seniors should contact West Side Neighborhood Housing Services at 716-885-2344. Eligible homeowners must be 60 years of age or older, and their household income cannot exceed 80 percent of the area median income. These RESTORE funds can only be used for one-to-four-unit residences that are owned and occupied by eligible individuals. State funds invested for these emergency home repairs cannot exceed $5,000 per house. The funds will be directed to eligible homeowners within the service area of West Side Neighborhood Housing Services.

“In addition to strengthening the neighborhood, this critical state funding for local housing restoration will create new jobs in Western New York’s home construction and improvement industry,” Kennedy said.

West Side Neighborhood Housing Services applied for these grant funds in a competitive process through New York State Homes and Community Renewal. Senator Kennedy threw his support behind the effort, and the funding awarded to West Side Neighborhood Housing Services was the only RESTORE grant directed to Erie County during this funding round.

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Senator Timothy M. Kennedy represents the New York State Senate’s 63rd District, which is comprised of the town of Cheektowaga, the city of Lackawanna and nearly all of the city of Buffalo. More information is available at http://kennedy.nysenate.gov.