Vacant Housing

Brian joins WNY AmeriCorps at a rehab project in Buffalo.

Over 12,000 vacant properties in Western New York are choking neighborhood rejuvenation, dragging down property values and draining local resources.  That is unacceptable. 

Co-Chair of the Older Cities Task Force

As co-chair of the Congressional Older Cities Task Force, Brian has partnered with Senator Schumer to introduce legislation to combat this scourge on WNY’s neighborhoods. 

The Community Regeneration Act, would:

• Establish a three-year, $300 million demonstration program that would select 15 small cities and 15 large cities experiencing large scale property vacancy and abandonment. Once selected, a city like Buffalo could use the funding to address its specific vacancy issues, including establishment or expansion of local regional land banks, deconstruction and demolition of vacant and abandoned properties, development of green infrastructure including renewable energy production, the adaptive reuse of architecturally, historically or culturally significant structures and the development of comprehensive plans to address vacant properties.

Brian with HUD Secretary Donovan in Buffalo.

Authorize the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to provide grants of up to $250,000 to communities to help fund the planning and development process. It would also authorize a competitive innovative grants program for specific short-term demonstration projects. Projects would include designing and creating green infrastructure, the establishment of recycling systems for recovered building materials, and/or the development of urban agriculture initiatives. The program would receive $25 million for the first year, and $12.5 million for each of the last two years.

Create a new council – the Federal Interagency Regeneration Communities Coordinating Council – that would include representatives from relevant federal agencies. The Council would develop federal agency support plans for the cities where the pilot program is implemented, offering technical assistance to grantees. The council would receive $24 million in funding.