State Sen. Lea Webb (D) announced $4.9 million in state grant funding to expand affordable homeownership opportunities across Broome, Cortland and Tompkins counties. The grants will be distributed to municipalities and nonprofit organizations that provide direct assistance to homeowners struggling to afford necessary repairs.
The funding, allocated through New York State Homes and Community Renewal’s Office of Community Renewal, will support housing rehabilitation, accessibility modifications and manufactured home replacements.
The grants were part of $51 million in statewide funding announced in December to support affordable homeownership across New York, according to the HCR website. HCR emphasized that the investment will help low and moderate-income families make critical home repairs and accessibility modification safety upgrades to their homes, replace manufactured homes and provide down payment assistance for first-time buyers.
“I am pleased to see this grant funding benefit municipalities and nonprofits working to make homeownership a reality for working families across our district,” Webb explained in her Jan. 24 press release. “These grants are a direct result of the work we did in the Fiscal Year 2025 budget to address New York’s housing crisis and make our state more affordable for working families.”
Tompkins County will receive $1,560,073 to assist homeowners in need of repairs or accessibility improvements, according to Webb’s press release. Ithaca Neighborhood Housing Services, a local nonprofit dedicated to providing affordable housing, was awarded $169,000 through the NYS Access to Home Program to fund accessibility modifications.
HCR’s Office of Community Renewal administers competitive annual grant funding rounds, with applications only open to not-for-profit organizations and municipalities. According to HCR, the most competitive applications are selected for funding based on criteria outlined in the funding round materials.
“These grants complement [New York] Governor [Kathy] Hochul’s $25 billion comprehensive Housing Plan to create and preserve 100,000 affordable homes statewide,” wrote Shachar Roloson, assistant director of communication for HCR, in an email to The Sun. “More than 55,000 homes have been created or preserved to date.”
HCR emphasized that the housing agenda from Hochul focuses on expanding access to safe, healthy and energy-efficient homes across the state.
“Every day, her administration is working to increase the supply of quality apartments, to develop new pathways to homeownership, to allow seniors to remain in the communities they love, and to provide vulnerable populations the support they need to thrive,” Roloson stated.
As grant-funded projects begin rolling out across Tompkins County, officials and nonprofit organizations will oversee the implementation of home rehabilitation and accessibility initiatives.
“Safe and affordable housing is a fundamental human right,” Webb explained in the press release. “I am proud of the work we are doing in New York to tackle the housing crisis and to find and implement solutions to ensure safe and affordable housing for everyone in our community.”
Isabella Pazmino-Schell ’28 is a Sun staff writer and can be reached at ivs5@cornell.edu.
