Attorney General James Announces Up To $300,000 Grant For Livable Communities In Long Island

Attorney General James Announces up to $300,000 Grant
for Livable Communities in Long Island

Funded Through Landlord Ambassador Program to Create and Preserve Affordable Housing

• Chemung, Steuben, And Schuyler Counties
• City Of Newburgh And Ulster County
• Columbia, Dutchess, And Putnam Counties
• Clinton, Essex, And Hamilton Counties
• Genesee And Monroe

NEW YORK – Attorney General Letitia James announced that the Long Island Housing Partnership (LIHP)—a member of New York’s Landlord Ambassador Program serving Nassau and Suffolk Counties—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.

“It is imperative that we do all we can to maintain affordable housing in New York,” said Attorney General James. “The funding from this program will ensure that LIHP and property owners on Long Island have the resources they need to maintain affordable housing options for our communities. We know this program works, and I am proud to be able to support families in Nassau and Suffolk Counties.”

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.”

The grant will allow Long Island Housing Partnership to hire staff and bolster operations as they work with property owners to manage, stabilize, and upgrade their buildings more effectively for long-term affordability.

“We applaud the New York State Attorney General on introducing another program that will be an important tool to assist in the creation of affordable rental opportunities on Long Island,” said James Britz, executive vice president and COO, Long Island Housing Partnership.

LIHP was created in 1988 with the mission of providing housing opportunities to help families afford to remain on Long Island. Under the Landlord Ambassador Program, LIHP will work with local municipalities to identify property owners to work with in an effort to increase the supply of safe, affordable homes. LIHP will also provide ongoing assistance, mortgage counseling, post-purchase advisories, and foreclosure prevention counseling. Additionally, they plan to work with federal, state, and local government agencies in support of improvements on housing policies, emphasizing the production of affordable ownership and rental opportunities for working families.

"At a time when Long Island is undergoing incredible transformation and a willingness to create more affordable housing stock, we need every tool available to make it easier to not only construct these units, but to actually maintain them as well,” said Suffolk County Executive Steven Bellone. “Attorney General James deserves enormous credit for stepping in to work with landlords that are willing to invest their own hard-earned money into these buildings so that our residents have more options available to live, work, and raise a family on Long Island.”

"This program is a critical tool for increasing the stock and improving the quality of affordable housing across Nassau County,” said Nassau County Executive Laura Curran. “Thank you to Attorney General James for providing crucial funding to build the capacity necessary to revitalize communities and make home ownership a reality for more of our residents."

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