Attorney General James Announces Up To $300,000 Grant For Affordable Housing In City Of Newburgh And Ulster County 

Funded Through Landlord Ambassador Program to Create and Preserve Affordable Housing

NEW YORK – Attorney General Letitia James announced that the Rural Ulster Preservation Company (RUPCO)—a member of New York’s Landlord Ambassador Program serving the City of Newburgh and Ulster County—will receive up to $300,000 in funding to help preserve affordable housing in the region. The program, created by the Office of the Attorney General in 2017, helps preserve multifamily housing stock by partnering with local non-profits to assist landlords of distressed properties obtain financing for repairs or find new, responsible developers to take over the buildings.

“Providing landlords of small- and medium-sized multifamily dwellings with low-cost financial resources is critical to maintaining affordable housing in the City of Newburgh and Ulster County,” said Attorney General James. “Area landlords are in need of services and the expertise of community organizations like the Rural Ulster Preservation Company, and this grant will help ensure that they get the help they need. We must all work together to ensure our communities have access to affordable housing and the Landlord Ambassador Program is an important resource to achieve that goal.”

The Landlord Ambassador Program helps coordinate municipalities and property owners to help landlords access financing and technical support to repair occupied, distressed multifamily homes as well as preserve these homes as part of the region’s affordable housing stock. The program, administered in conjunction with Enterprise Community Partners, provides up to $1.5 million in grants for a two-year period to community-based non-profit organizations in six regions outside of New York City.

“Many landlords want to keep their properties affordable, but simply do not have access to the tools they need to do so,” said Judi Kende, vice president and New York market leader, Enterprise Community Partners. “The Landlord Ambassador Program leverages the expertise of non-profit housing organizations to support landlords in their efforts to preserve affordable homes. We are excited to expand our partnership with the Attorney General and bring these valuable connections and expertise to even more landlords across the state.”

RUPCO was formed in 1981 with a mission to strengthen communities by providing many low- to moderate-income families the opportunity to improve their living standards and  by creating and maintaining quality, sustainable housing, and rental opportunities. RUPCO plans to use this grant to hire staff and bolster operations as they work with property owners to manage, stabilize, and better upgrade their buildings to support long-term affordability.

“We would like to thank Attorney General Letitia James for supporting the Landlord Ambassador Program,” said RUPCO CEO Kevin O’Connor. “We are excited to collaborate with Enterprise Community Partners, Inc. and New York State Homes and Community Renewal to launch the Landlord Ambassador Program in the Mid-Hudson Valley.  We appreciate the opportunity to create more affordable housing by assisting existing and new landlords of small to medium multifamily housing to stabilize, improve, and preserve their buildings for long-term sustainability.”

“The Landlord Ambassador Program is a critical resource to help address the rising cost in the upkeep of affordable rental properties,” said Newburgh Mayor Torrance Harvey. “This program will go a long way in assisting landlords and renters by easing some of the financial restraints. We thank Attorney General Letitia James in her efforts to support local governments and community-based organizations address the housing needs unique to our communities.”

“Affordable housing in Ulster County has become an obstacle for many hard-working families, with issues like high rental costs and foreclosure processes forcing them out of their homes. I am committed to attaining and building more affordable housing, and providing more rental subsidies across Ulster County,” said Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan. “Thanks to the Landlord Ambassador Program and the Office of Attorney General James, Ulster County now has the resources to offer a wide variety of programs and services that will allow us to provide quality, affordable housing.”

This new round of the Landlord Ambassador Program is funded by an OAG obtained settlement with the Royal Bank of Scotland.