Four local non-profits along with the City of Buffalo have been awarded state funding to get vacant rental units back on the market.
On Friday, State Senator Sean Ryan announced that $10.5 million in state cash is headed for Erie and Niagara Counties, including the City of Buffalo and the City of Niagara Falls.
Ryan made the announcement just one day before he declared he is running for Mayor of Buffalo.
The cash is the first part of what Ryan calls his “city of good neighbors housing plan” to take effect, and comes from a $90 million hoard he secured in this year’s state budget to address upstate housing needs. The awardees will administer the funds to small-scale local landlords to fund repairs to vacant rental units, making them available to renters once again.
The awardees
The New York State Rental Improvement Program (V-RIP) is managed by the state Office of Homes and Community Renewal (HCR), which accepted applications from organizations earlier this year. The following organizations will receive funding according to Ryan's office:
● Belmont Housing Resources for WNY, Inc. (Counties of Erie and Niagara) - $2.5 million
● Broadway Fillmore Neighborhood Housing Services (City of Buffalo, East Side) - $2.5 million
● City of Buffalo (City of Buffalo) - $2,497,500
● East Buffalo Development Corporation (City of Buffalo, East Side) - $1,349,040
● Preservation Buffalo Niagara (City of Niagara Falls) - $1.8 million.
No public support from the Buffalo Common Council
The City of Buffalo is the only government municipality to receive the cash so far, and has been awarded almost $2.5 million. But back in March, the Buffalo Common Council declined to adopt resolutions supporting Ryan’s bid for the dollars in this year's state budget, instead receiving and filing the items with a 7-2 vote and effectively sending the resolutions to the council's legislative graveyard.
Councilmembers Rasheed Wyatt (University District) and David Rivera (Niagara District) voted against that action, with Wyatt expressing his disbelief at the council's lack of public support for Ryan's program in a March 12 legislation committee meeting.
"I'm just mystified. I'm mystified. And again, it's talk, talk, talk. Why are we receiving and filing this when [Senator Ryan] is making a proposal to the state to get it in the budget? What's the problem with us saying we support it?," Wyatt asked his peers.
In the same meeting, Rivera said he was "bewildered" by the council's decision, particularly considering the city's financial situation at the time.
"For this council not to go on record to support something that's in the interest of the residents in our respective districts is is baffling," he said.
Council Majority Leader Leah Halton-Pope said a letter of support for Ryan's programs would be better suited for a piece of legislation, rather than the resolutions.
Speaking to WBFO in September, months before he announced his run for Mayor of Buffalo, Ryan said that the common council did not support the resolutions because they could not "perceive of breaking the status quo."
"The City of Buffalo's housing problems are complex, so in order to fix them you have to break the status quo," Ryan said. "And when I went in front of the city council to tell them about this novel plan, they had a hard time getting their their minds around it. They didn't think it would be funded."
"Luckily for the people of the City of Buffalo, the money's coming to them with or without the council's support," he added.
Buffalo Common Council President Christopher Scanlon was one of those who voted down those resolutions in March. Scanlon has been Buffalo’s Acting Mayor since October after former Mayor Byron Brown left his position before the end of his term. Scanlon is expected to run against Ryan in next year’s Mayoral election.
