Syracuse housing program waits on council action as ESD grant limits use of administrative funds

The Housing Strategies Corporation board discussed program eligibility, staffing and budget assumptions and said the timeline to begin grant and loan work depends on pending city legislation and Empire State Development (ESD) contract approvals.

Board members and staff focused on three near-term constraints: (1) the city—s FY24-25 $2.5 million transfer needs a council vote, (2) ESD has cleared funding but its contract and state sign-offs limit use of those dollars for administrative costs, and (3) planned program staffing would need to be in place before larger-scale implementation.

Michelle, a staff member supporting the effort, said the city has requested that the council consider the legislation by the June 9 vote to allow "sufficient time to make sure that we can do the backend contracting that has to be executed by the end of the fiscal year." She also told the board that ESD—s board approved the award and that staff "anticipate that we would have access to those funds beginning in September," with an initial one-time disbursement of $2,000,000 followed by two additional disbursements of $1,500,000 each as the contract is executed.

Board members queried whether ESD funds could be used to pay a third party to administer grants and loans. Michelle said ESD has…