BUFFALO, NY (WKBW) — New York’s Secretary of State visited the east Buffalo community Wednesday to deliver an investment designed to help dozens of local families stay in their homes.
“We're very much focusing on the east Buffalo community and how we can deal with the issues around here,” stated Robert Rodriguez, NYS Secretary of State. “The social ills are not going away unless we deal with them as collectively as a society.”
Rodriguez toured three Community Action Organizations of Western New York sites in east Buffalo.
CAO serves the people of east Buffalo as they continue to recover from the effects of things like the pandemic and the Tops Market mass shooting tragedy on Jefferson Avenue.
Rodriguez announced a $100,000 in state funding to help up to 100 east Buffalo residents with housing insecurity issues.
“Buffalo has some of the oldest housing stock in the country, with apartments going to market rate or ten percent above market rate, a lot of low-income households — those families cannot afford to move, or they can afford to sustain themselves right now,” explained Brandi Haynes, vice president of adult service, CAO WNY.
Local leaders say this $100,000 for 100 eligible families will go a very long way for those who are struggling to stay in their homes.
“A lot of our clients are disabled. They are head of household, like a senior — there are a lot of seniors living alone or seniors raising grandchildren with unexpected expenses, so that's the story from a lot of our clients and they're just really trying to just make it day to day,” described Haynes.
The funding will allow the CAO to provide "case management", "rental" and "mortgage assistance" with each recipient getting a $1,000 grant to prevent evictions.
“But when you're challenged with putting food on the table and barely making those rents, it's become a significant challenge. If I was receipt of the $1,000, I would be jumping for joy,” remarked Thomas Kim, president, CAO WNY.
To be eligible, residents must be living below the federal poverty level, but still have an income source to sustain rent.
The CAO has already pre-screened 40 residents, with about ten already through the process. They could receive the money in the coming weeks.
But I asked Secretary of State Rodriguez if more can be done.
"Their challenges in every community, but it's really about how we tackle them and one of the things that's impressive is we know that Buffalo is experiencing a really dramatic resurgence, but we have to make sure that no community is left out of that,” replied Rodriguez. “The Community Action Organization — those are the folks that are out there helping us to support the community while we make these important investments.”
Rodriguez noted the governor has already pledged $50 million for east Buffalo.
