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$650,000

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COVID Emergency Grants – In the Nick of Time

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Tyra Briggs was having a problem with her Valley neighborhood home’s roof. She initially thought the roof could be patched and had reached out to a contractor to give her a quote. In June, she had arranged for the roof to be fixed, but Tyra’s position as a truancy office was eliminated due to COVID.

“I didn’t want to keep putting the roof off,” said Tyra. “I didn’t think it was safe and I didn’t want anyone on the back porch.”

She had seen something about the COVID Emergency Grants in the newspaper and called Home HeadQuarters thinking a small grant would cover the patching job. Another local contractor came to the home and upon inspection, the entire ceiling at the back of Tyra’s house collapsed. Home HeadQuarters’ staff quickly assigned Tyra additional COVID emergency repair funding through its HHQ’s Urgent Care Program made possible by the City of Syracuse.

“I hate to think about what would have happened if I hadn’t called,” said Tyra. “I really don’t know what I would have done without these grants. I am just so thankful.”

#2 in Onondaga County

529 people took advantage of almost $6 million in home improvement financing making Home HeadQuarters the leading home improvement lender in Syracuse (and #2 in Onondaga County) providing 72% of all home improvement dollars in the market.

$8.7 million

More than 90 people financed their home purchases with $8.7 million from Home HeadQuarters and even more people took advantage of more than $877,000 in down payment and closing cost assistance.

Bridging the Gap: The Barnes Mansion

In 1853, George and Rebecca Barnes built their Italianate villa on James Street Hill in Syracuse. The house, one of many mansions to once line the main thoroughfare, is also assumed to have played some role in the underground railroad. George Barnes was a committed abolitionist, an active participant in the railroad and helped form the City Anti-Slavery Society. The property later became the home of Frank Hiscock, the chief justice of the New York State Court of Appeals, and in the early 1940’s, was purchased by LeMoyne College to provide student classrooms and housing for the school’s monks. The Corinthian Club, a social destination for wives who could not join their husbands at the men’s only Century Club a few blocks away, owned it for decades. In 2009, facing dwindling enrollment and increasing tax burdens, The Corinthian Club gifted the mansion to The George and Rebecca Barnes Foundation.

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When board members of The George and Rebecca Barnes Foundation discovered they were being awarded two large New York State grants to repair the roof and signature columns of the beloved 167-year-old Barnes Mansion in Syracuse, they were ecstatic. The Barnes Foundation and its board had raised the funds needed to make the costly repairs helping to ensure the historic mansion remains in use and in demand. Unfortunately, as the board discovered, most public grant programs, especially those through the state, do not provide awarded funding until a project is complete. To make matters even more challenging, non-profit organizations often do not have the financial structure to pass the stringent underwriting standards traditional financial institutions require to secure bridge financing and rarely have the available capital to cover costs before a project is done. “To replace just the roof was almost $400,000,” says Barnes Mansion Board member Cathy Comer. “We couldn’t find bridge financing anywhere.”

Enter Home HeadQuarters with gap financing built especially for unique non-profit projects such as the Barnes Mansion renovation. As a non-profit housing and community development organization, Home HeadQuarters relies on a wide range of funding sources for its own single-family, mixed-use and commercial property redevelopment, and almost always must complete a project before it is funded. Seeing this lack of flexible capital for other non-profits as another opportunity to help fill gaps and build capacity in the community, Home HeadQuarters worked with local lenders to develop a workable solution with accessible capital. The success of Home HeadQuarters’ gap financing can be seen in such unique project like The Gear Factory and The Gustav Stickley House . Now, the Barnes Mansion can get its new roof and repaired columns and the board can focus on the next big thing.

“We are already starting to look for the next grant to fix the back portico, make the 2nd floor bathroom handicap accessible, make the side entrance handicap accessible, repair the side porch and fix or replace the fire escapes,” says Cathy. “The structure of the building is most important--we want this building to last another 150 years.”

Risking Success: First-time Home Ownership

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Monica Mayes watches as her kids squeeze around the new refrigerator, opening and closing the door three and then four times in a row. The refrigerator, one of many new, shiny appliances the kids were joyfully admiring, was a first for the whole family—the first new appliance and the first that they had ever owned. The kids, still in a state of disbelief, had found out earlier that day that the house with all the new appliances was their new home.

“I saw this house being worked on, knew it was a Home HeadQuarters’ house, and actually walked through it while it was being renovated,” says Mom while laughing. “My eldest saw the property before being stationed out of state and knew what I was trying to do, but we both kept it a secret so we could surprise the rest of the kids.”

Being a single mom to six kids, aged five to 19 years, hasn’t been easy, but Monica did not let that diminish her determination to get her family into a home of their own. While working as a certified nursing assistant at a local nursing home, she started saving and watching her credit even before she signed up for the Home HeadQuarters’ HomeBuyer Education Course and was in such good shape, that midway through the eight-hour class, Monica reached out to a HHQ housing counselor.

“I realized that I was farther along than where the class was taking me,” says Monica. “When I mentioned to my counselor that I was already looking at and interested in a Home HeadQuarters’ renovated house, she immediately put me in touch with the mortgage manager to see if I qualified and asked the realtor to reach out to me.”

Not too long after that initial conversation, Monica was picking out paint colors and deciding on light fixtures for the Syracuse Southside home that was soon to be her own. Along with the affordable, fully-renovated, move-in ready house, the family also secured a first mortgage that required very little down and worked with all the funding requirements of the rehabbed property; a grant for closing cost assistance, and the nationally-certified education and counseling certificate all from Home HeadQuarters. Mom is now looking at furniture while the younger kids are organizing the playroom.

“Don’t sell yourself short, it can be done,” says Monica Mayes with conviction. “You might not know how to start, and you know it’s going to be hard, but you can do it for you and your family.”

17

17 Lease-Purchase properties were occupied with families looking to purchase within three years.

14

14 affordable rental units got underway through NYS Small Rental Development Initiative with eight new construction units already completed.

23

23 Home HeadQuarters properties were sold to first-time homebuyers.

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Gwenique Blake – Determined to be the First

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Gwenique Blake knows Syracuse’s Westside. So, when she saw new 2-family construction on Otisco Street, Gwenique did two things: she assumed it was a Home HeadQuarters’ project and she pulled her car right over to the curb for a tour of the construction site. The very next day, the Loretto nursing assistant went to Home HeadQuarters to see what it would take to get into one of the new apartments.

“I was worried about my credit, my kids, when the apartment would be ready,” says the Mom of three. “But everyone at HHQ reassured me and said they would make it work no matter what.”

A month and a half later, Gwenique was the first to rent a unit in Home HeadQuarters’ Westside Apartments, a 14-unit project featuring both new construction and substantial rehabilitation, all in energy-efficient, 2-family buildings. The unique rental project is funded through the Small Rental Development Initiative of NYS Homes and Community Renewal and is primarily targeted to those families making less than 80% of the area median household income and to some making less than 50% of the area median.

While Gwenique’s apartment looks like home, with Fall decorations at her door and on her porch and the smell of fresh baked cakes coming from the kitchen, she plans on enrolling in Home HeadQuarters’ Homebuyer Education Course next year with sights on becoming a first-time homebuyer. She is proud to be a part of this particular Home HeadQuarters’ project and all the new activity on the city’s Westside. When asked what her favorite aspect is of the new apartment, she doesn’t hesitate, “It’s the new grass, my kids take their shoes off and tell me it’s the softest grass they’ve ever walked on.”

Banking on Small, Local, Family-Run Businesses: BeeKind Syracuse

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“I was always driving by this building that looked mostly vacant, but I could see it was being renovated,” says BeeKind Syracuse co-owner Jillian Barrett. “I thought about how cool it would be to see people coming to our store and how fun to be an even bigger part of my very own neighborhood.”

BeeKind Syracuse quickly signed on to join other local businesses Recess Coffee and KirkWorks on the first level of the 1950 mixed-use building, along with a handful of long-term residential rental units on the 2nd floor. The building, originally called the Dublin Arms, is part of Home HeadQuarters, Benevolent Development strategy of restoring commercial and mixed-use properties that are key assets in city neighborhoods, while providing affordable access to small, local businesses and renters.

The BeeKind sisters jumpstarted their business online in March just as the pandemic picked up speed and built a devoted following that has now found them in person and often, within walking distance. The busy retailer is even more local and sustainable with the addition of their newest stock and cashier assistants, recently Dad and weekend worker Mom.

“I love that we are a part of this amazing community and that we now are a part of something even bigger,” says Jillian with a smile. “We can partner with our building’s non-profit and community-minded owner and maybe we can even help to grow other local businesses—not just our own.”