Charles Gorra // Special Contributor
SYRACUSE, NY – Over the weekend the Syracuse Housing Authority announced an 11 million dollar project called “Homes for Syracuse” that will build 50 brand new low income homes in vacant lots throughout the city’s South Side. With plans to start building this weekend, SHA Director Bill Simmons hopes to be done building within two years. In addition to vacant lots, empty boarded-up homes on Oxford St. and Cortland Ave. will be demolished and replaced with new three to four bedroom homes.
However more than just houses, the project is intended to “spruce” up the whole South Side. The new houses intend to draw more developers into the neighborhood, while also encouraging current residents to make their properties look nicer. Call it a boost in quality of life.
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“Given this economic times and the environment we’re in, whether talking about the country in general, or Central New York or Syracuse in particular, these 50 homes are going to have an impact for neighbors in terms of jobs, home ownership, and improving the quality of life for a lot of people,” said Simmons.
Why the South Side?
One answer, 60% of the property the SHA has acquired through foreclosures land seizures is located in the South Side, which makes it an obvious place to start. A different answer, the South Side is in desperate need of a jump start. Residents in the area are quick to point out that the neighborhood has been on the decline since the Midland Sewage Treatment Plant.
“The sewage plant didn’t help things. It made some people move out, and also made it smell bad,” explained South Side home-owner Tisha Wilson. Wilson also owns the Divine Beaty Salon in the neighborhood.
Wilson purchased her house because it had been in the family for years. Yet, if she had her druthers she wouldn’t still be living on the South Side.
“Sometime I regret buying. I wish I could just pick up the house and move it into a different neighborhood,” she explained.
Wilson said crime in the area is on the rise, and while she thinks that new houses are better than vacant lots she worried the new tenants could still be trouble.
The Fifteen Year Deal
While residents like Wilson might be concerned with the type of tenants that will be moving into the new houses, the SHA has already thought this one through. Given one of the housing plan’s key components is to provide these new tenants an option to buy their homes, the SHA will be targeting families with good records in public housing.
Simmons said tenants will be carefully selected for a “lease-purchase” program where they begin by renting, but will earn credits that can be used to buy the homes. However, to become eligible the family must live in the same house for 15 years.
“We’re looking for individuals who are going to be stable. Stay in these properties for a long, long period of time and that’s the key to making this program a success. Stability, commitment from individuals who are going to be there for the long haul,” said Simmons.
The program’s goal to create new homeowners is noble at face value, but is the 15 year time frame it takes to become an eligible buyer realistic? Considering how quickly the city’s neighborhoods can change, and the number of people that move out of the city each year, it’s difficult to envision.
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