Affordable Home Ownership For Lower Income Families May Not Be An Oneonta Pipe Dream

We hear about it all the time in Oneonta since it's a two-college town...people saying that there's no affordable housing and everything is either a dump or too expensive. That could change soon if the City of Oneonta receives grant funding from New York State.

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According to Governor Cuomo's Office, the state is making $26 million in grant funding available to local governments and nonprofit organizations to promote affordable homeownership. Grants can be applied for through the Affordable Home Ownership Development Program to help low and moderate-income residents acquire and rehabilitate existing owner-occupied homes, and to construct new owner-occupied homes. The program also provides funding for home improvements to existing, owner-occupied one to four-family homes, condominiums, or cooperatives. Go to hcr.ny.gov for program details and application information.

We already know that City of Oneonta has been very motivated to provide affordable housing for residents with two current projects in works: The Lofts on Dietz project and the latest housing project from Springbrook where they purchased the "Ford block" building at 212 Main St. and are renovating it to create affordable apartments. These two projects are set to provide more affordable housing but of course those projects will provide rental units and don't address affordable home ownership.

Hopefully, this grant opportunity from New York State will be awarded to Oneonta and families and individuals will have an easier time finding a home to call their own that's sustainable for them.