- By John Spence
- Business & Technology
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Better Housing For Tompkins County, Inc. (BHTC) was one of 55 agencies across the state to receive a portion of the $22 million in grant funding awarded last week by the Housing Trust Fund Corporation’s Home Program. BHTC applied for, and received, $360,000 as a Community Housing Development Organization (CHDO) to buy single family residences in need of significant repairs, make those repairs and then sell the homes to eligible low-to-moderate income individuals or families living in Tompkins County.
Better Housing has a long and successful history of managing large housing rehabilitation grants throughout the County. The agency has also managed the County’s First-time Homebuyer Program, providing clients with homebuyer education, credit counseling, and financial assistance since 1994. This will be the first time both programs will be addressed under a single grant.
“We took the steps required to become a CHDO organization with the specific intention of bringing the benefits of this funding, restricted to Community Housing Development Organizations, to Tompkins County,” said John Spence the agency’s Executive Director. “Our plan is to buy, rehabilitate and resell six homes to people with modest incomes over the course of the next two years.”
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