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County Land Bank To Begin ‘Neighbors’ Project

The first rental house renovation project for a new state program to entice people in becoming more involved in their neighborhood is about to start in Jamestown.

On Wednesday, Gina Paradis, Chautauqua County Land Bank Corporation executive director, said the first project for the Neighbors for Neighborhoods program will be starting soon in Jamestown. She said the project will take place at a property along Buffalo Street. She added it is a property the land bank has owned since 2015.

The renovation project will be a two-unit rental house. Paradis said a lot of rehabilitation work is needed, which will be managed by a woman whose family owns other “quality” rental units in Jamestown. She said the land bank will be working with CHRIC on lead abatement for the property and the renovation work will be contracted to a reliable construction company. She added the rehab work is scheduled to be completed by the end of the year.

In May, the land bank board accepting enrollment into the state’s Neighbors for Neighborhoods program. The new pilot program, which was announced by Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman in 2016, will provide state land banks with $4 million in subsidies for everyday New Yorkers to take over individual, abandoned properties in their neighborhood — at little or no cost — and rehabilitate them into affordable rental housing.

Created with the affordable housing and community development nonprofit agency Enterprise Community Partners, the state program requires the new housing units to remain affordable for at least 20 years. Funding for the program will come from the Attorney General’s 2014 and 2015 settlements with Citigroup and Bank of America over the banks’ conduct leading up to the 2008 housing crash.

The grant for the county land bank is for $450,000 and will be on a project-by-project basis. The land bank received $25,000 in seed funding to hire a part-time project manager to handle the assessment of properties needed for the program. In August, the land bank hired J. Michael Digirolamo to be the part-time project manager for the Neighbors For Neighborhoods program.

In May, Paradis said candidates to purchase property through the program cannot own more than two properties and must live within 15 miles of the property they want to rehabilitate.

There is also a 20-year commitment for the program, with the landlord being required to produce an annual report on the property for the land bank. Once the property is renovated, the landlord needs to offer the property to tenants at 80 percent of the affordable mortgage index.

Four houses have been identified for the program, with two landlords interested in participating.

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