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Notice of Public Review and Hearing 2009-2010 Annual Plan Amendment
Notice of Public Review and Hearing
2009-2010 Annual Plan Amendment
Albany Housing Authority will hold a public hearing on February 19, 2010 at 5:00 PM in the Atrium at 200 South Pearl Street to hear comments on the amendment to the current Annual Plan.
A draft of amended Annual Plan will be available for public review during regular business hours on February 9, 2010 for the duration of the comment period. A copy of the plan will also be available on our website at www.albanyhousing.org and at each AHA management office.
Comments may be submitted prior to the public hearing. Comments may be mailed to AHA, 200 So. Pearl St., Albany, NY 12202-1834; emailed to
info@albanyhousing.org or faxed to 518-641-7545.
Please put “Amended Plan Comments” in the subject line. Attendees to the hearing will be required to sign in.
Victor Cain, Chairman
Steven T. Longo, Executive Director Equal Housing Opportunity
Townsend Park Homes Federalization
The Albany Housing Authority has applied to federalize Townsend Park Homes. Townsend Park Homes or 137C is a 158 unit state building where 131 of the 148 maximum Section 8 project based voucher units are currently receiving subsidy. Through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the US Dept. of HUD is offering public housing authorities the opportunity to federalize affordable housing properties without affecting the 1999 HUD-imposed cap on the number of units allowable under the Annual Contributions Contract.
Ida Yarbrough Homes Reborn
Ida Yarbrough Homes Reborn
By Darren Scott, Director of Planning and Development
Ida Yarbrough Homes was built in the early 1970’s as 129 low-rise residential apartments surrounding a series of courtyards and parking lots on a hillside overlooking North Pearl Street. For the next 40 years it would undergo several major renovations, never overcoming latent problems in its layout and construction, yet housing hundreds of families in need of decent affordable homes. Love it or hate it, residents are in agreement that it’s time to rebuild it.
There is a sense of community at the low-rise development. It is a family site with many places to play without worry of children going in the street. People know each other and have a sense of community. Over several meetings held in late 2009, residents told Authority staff and consultants what worked and what didn’t about Ida Yarbrough. While there is community, there are too many apartments and too many children with too little adult supervision. The apartments are well maintained, but they are outdated. And while there remains the need for affordable rental housing, there is a strong desire for homeownership.
From these observations, a new vision was created. The apartments will be demolished in phases and fewer new apartments constructed in their place. In total, approximately 80 rental apartments and 20 houses for sale will be built. They will be attractive, spacious and energy efficient, offering amenities often found in market rate housing. The site is designed to capitalize on the sense of community amongst its residents while providing security from those who would take advantage of it.
Residents will be provided with robust relocation assistance and encouraged to rent and purchase the new homes to the greatest extent possible when they are complete. In the interim, the Authority is developing additional apartments throughout the neighborhood on vacant lots and in abandoned buildings to replace housing that cannot be accommodated on-site. Also, residents will have the choice of using portable Section 8 vouchers to find housing in the private rental market.
Ida Yarbrough Homes will be reborn, insuring that its residents continue to have a place in Arbor Hill. For more information on redevelopment plans and the Arbor Hill Neighborhood Plan, please download the following files;
Collecting Rent Payments
Key Bank Branches
Collecting Rent Payments:
66 South Pearl Street
Washington Ave & Lark Street
Westgate – 911 Central Ave.
60 State Street.
The following branches no longer will accept rent payments after 1/31/10:
561 New Scotland Ave
280 Broadway.
Payments can be made:
Lockbox (postage paid blue envelope with rent bill)
SEFCU (200 South Pearl St.)
www.albanyhousing.org/payonline (pay on-line)
Habitat for Humanity Rehab
AHA and Habitat for Humanity
Partner on Pilot Rehab Project
Albany, NY – Capital District Habitat for Humanity (CDHfH) is actively seeking sponsors for a rehabilitation project of a vacant building in the South End of the City. The Albany Housing Authority (AHA) has partnered with Habitat in a demonstration project to re-establish the Habitat model for affordable homeownership in renovation construction rather than the more typical new construction Habitat has embraced since 2004. AHA has committed $20,000 to jump start this project.
The vacant building was recently acquired by Habitat and was donated to the affiliate by Albany County. The County secured the property through foreclosure in 2007. Located at 19 Odell Street, this building has been vacant for only 18 months has been assessed as a viable rehab project by the partners. Odell Street has been the construction zone for Habitat since 2007 and Habitat just recently completed their 5th home on this block in the South End. This building sits across the street from the 5 homes now occupied by qualified low income families, and while in rough shape visually, it seems structurally sound and has not sustained any significant water damage, which is typical of abandoned and vacant buildings.
As Habitat wound down its work in North Albany in 2007, where they have completed 17 homes since 2004, in partnership with the City of Albany they set their sights on the South End. This renovated home will be part of Capital District Habitat for Humanity’s South End Renewal Project — a community revitalization project in Albany’s South End. Habitat sits on the South End Action Committee (SEAC) along with AHA and other community partners. The Committee is chaired by Hon. Carolyn McLaughlin. There are over 700 buildings on the City’s Vacant Building Registry and the support of the community for Habitat to take on a rehabilitation project is seen as an important step toward the sort of reinvestment that is required to turn the liability of vacant buildings into a city asset.
“Our partnership with AHA is significant because it includes not only the starting cash investment to gut and rewire the home, but also the demonstration of the commitment by the City of Albany to support reinvestment in its building stock,” said Steve Haggerty, Executive Director at Capital District Habitat for Humanity. The work of rehabilitation of existing vacant stock historically has proven to be more costly to Habitat, and less volunteer friendly. Habitat’s model relies on volunteer labor to build affordable homes, and frequently with rehabilitation there is a higher skill level and craftsmanship required to restore the home.
Now Habitat is seeking a sponsoring partner to support the construction. Typically, Habitat secures a sponsor in the amount of $40,000 and then through existing banking relationships borrows the balance of $42,000 to meet materials, and required contract labor costs. Occasionally, several sponsors will partner to achieve the $40,000 donation. Recent sponsors include State Employees Federal Credit Union (SEFCU), the United Methodists Churches, Siena College, and First Unitarian Universalist Society of Albany (FUUSA). Since taking the helm at Habitat as the Executive Director in 2005, Mr. Haggerty has frequently answered the question of why Habitat does new construction rather than renovations. “As I explain the variable costs and increased craftsmanship required folks often take me to task regarding the need for reinvestment in the existing building stock. It is now our hope that the AHA funds will leverage from these interested parties the additional commitment and support needed to bring the project to fruition,” he said. “Habitat is eager to start such a rehab project and we are pleased it could happen here in the City of Albany,” he added.
“We are excited to find out if the successful model employed by Habitat utilizing private donations of money and labor on new home construction can be replicated in existing older vacant structures in need of renovation,” said Steve Longo, AHA’s Executive Director.
The vacant building located at 19 Odell Street is slated for Rehabilitation by capital District Habitat for Humanity.
Townsend Park Flag Raising
ALBANY — From street level, it must have been a peculiar scene.
Two women paused on Central Avenue Monday morning and stood at attention with their hands over their hearts as the strains of “The Star-Spangled Banner” drifted up from somewhere unseen below.
About 14 feet beneath them in a courtyard outside the Townsend Park Homes, Ron Scott watched in silence as a large American flag ascended one of two brand-new 50-foot silver flagpoles rising in front of the 18-story apartment building at Henry Johnson Boulevard.
For Scott, 68, an Ohio native and retired radio broadcaster who spent much of his adult life in the Army and New York Army National Guard, the brief ceremony marked the completion of a years-long quest since he noticed that when the Veterans Day, Memorial Day and Columbus Day parades approached the Albany Housing Authority complex, the bands would stop playing music.
“I’ve been on this mission for four years,” is the way he told it.
New Website Features
As the AHA website continues to grow, new features and added enhancements are continually being added. The site is now fully searchable with a custom search page powered by Google. For the Spanish speaking members of our community, the site is now accessible in Spanish. For landlords there is HAPCheck and for tenants there is now the possibility to pay your rent online! And finally, our community members now have online access to a secure, anonymous form to disclose any troubling activity on or around AHA property. We call this Silent Witness and it can be found here.
