Small landlords in Syracuse, Onondaga County can get $50K to $75K to rehab vacant apartments

Syracuse, N.Y. – State housing officials today awarded $7 million to help landlords fix up vacant apartments in Syracuse and Onondaga County and get them rented to low- and moderate-income tenants.
Home HeadQuarters will administer $5 million of the state money, targeting vacant apartment units in the city of Syracuse.
Onondaga County will administer $2 million that can be used to fix up apartments anywhere in the county.
The money comes from a new state initiative, the Vacant Rental Improvement Program. The local grants were among $40 million statewide announced today.
Here’s how it will work: The program is only open to properties with five or fewer rental units. Landlords can use the money to rehabilitate vacant, distressed apartments or to convert other vacant space (such as commercial space) for housing.
To obtain a $50,000 grant, the landlord must sign a contract to rent the rehabilitated unit at a restricted price to a tenant whose income is no higher than 80% of the area median (roughly $53,000 for a single person in 2024). The landlord can get $50,000 for each apartment unit.
To obtain a grant of up to $75,000 per unit, the tenant’s income must be no higher than 60% of median (roughly $40,000 for one person).
The rent controls remain in place for 10 years, during which the administrative agency will keep a lien on the property.
Syracuse officials said there are about1,400 buildings in the city that would qualify for the program.
The program should be a big help to small landlords, said Kerry Quaglia, executive director of Home HeadQuarters.
“Some of those mom-and-pop landlords, if they knew that the unit wasn’t in great shape, they might have been reluctant to rent it to somebody because of lead paint issues or what have you,’’ he said. “Now this will give them some money to get if fixed up, get it up to code, and then you can rest easy and get it rented out.”
The $5 million grant to Home Headquarters should pay for about 75 apartment renovations, state housing officials said. The county’s $2 million grant should help rehab about 30 units.
Quaglia said there is still some preparation to do before Home HeadQuarters is ready to accept applications from landlords. He said he hopes to open the program early in 2025.
Staff writer Tim Knauss can be reached at: email | Twitter | 315-470-3023.