Albany Community Land Trust rehabs houses to fix blight
ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — If you live in Albany chances are you have seen red x’s signifying that a building is unsafe for anyone, especially first responders, to enter.
A vacant home burned down in Albany on Tuesday with flames spreading to nearby occupied properties. It’s again raising the issue of blight in the city. A local non-profit is working to rehab entire blocks filled with those vacant homes.
Valerie Alexander-Moseley is Assistant Project Manager at the Albany Community Land Trust. Before and after. Dilapidated to renovated. The nonprofit organization flips vacant homes, many of which are on the same block, then rents or sells them to first-time home buyers. She gave NEWS10's Zion Decoteau a tour of one of their gut-rehabed homes on Albany's Third Street.
“It's to make our community look good. It's to bring homes to people that may not never have the opportunity…based…to buy a home based on their credit” said Alexander-Moseley.
Pastor Michael Williams from the Empire Christian Center, was one of those first-time home buyers in December 1999. He now works with the trust to prevent gun violence.
“They were the only ones to make affordable living affordable for me," said Williams. “1999 I remember it well. It was in December because we closed. It was the best day of my and my wife's life" the Pastor continued.
Just how affordable are the land trust’s properties? Well this house should sell for about $135,000.
“We have people living in some of our apartments for $675” Alexander-Moseley explained. The trust assess client’s incomes and put them in touch with grants so clients are able to afford their properties. For renters, the trust conducts inspections to ensure tenant’s property upkeep. For Moseley and Williams, this is all to prevent seeing more of these: red x houses.
Sitting right across the street from the rehabbed home is a vacant home.
“There was a fire. This building has been like this now for quite some time" said Alexander-Moseley.
The project manager attributes these blemishes of urban blight to several factors.
“The older generation that owned the house died off and moved to a warmer climate and left the house to some younger people and they don't care for it so people walk away from houses,” said Alexander-Moseley.
The Land Trust currently has six new construction homes that they're looking to sell to first-time home buyers.