SCHUMER, GILLIBRAND ANNOUNCE ONE OF THE LARGEST SINGLE FEDERAL HOUSING INVESTMENTS IN SYRACUSE HISTORY WITH WHOPPING $50 MILLION TO REDEVELOP SYRACUSE’S HISTORIC 15th WARD NEIGHBORHOOD & INCREASE AFFORDABLE HOUSING SURROUNDING I-81– LAYING FOUNDATION FOR A BRIGHTER FUTURE FOR SYRACUSE
Senators Have Delivered Historic Fed Investment For I-81’s Redevelopment & Reconnecting Syracuse Communities Divided By The Highway, And With New Economic Energy Jolting The Region Thanks To Micron’s Historic Project, They Say Investments In Creating Affordable Housing Is More Important Than Ever
Senators Worked With Syracuse For Years To Advocate For Highly Competitive “Choice Neighborhoods Initiative” Grant; Now New Fed $$ Will Revitalize Syracuse’s Historic 15th Ward, Help Fund Redevelopment Of 600+ Housing Units As Part Of Syracuse’s East Adams Transformation
Schumer: From Affordable Housing To New Job-Creation, Workforce Training, And New Infrastructure, Fed Investment Is Making Syracuse’s I-81 Transformation A Blueprint For Reconnecting Communities Across America
Following years of advocacy, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand today announced one of the largest single federal housing investments in Syracuse’s history with a whopping $50 million award for the Syracuse Housing Authority (SHA) and the City of Syracuse to transform the East Adams neighborhood near I-81 in the City’s Historic 15th Ward.
This historic funding through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Choice Neighborhoods Initiative Program will help fund the redevelopment of over 600 aging public housing units, into new, affordable, mixed-income housing units as part of the East Adams transformation project. It also plans bolster significant related community improvements, including, enhancing green space, workforce training, the Children Rising Center, education opportunity, and business development to lay the foundation for a brighter tomorrow for current and future generations in Syracuse
“Today the federal government is making one of the single largest housing investments in Syracuse’s history. I am proud to deliver a whopping $50 million to create and preserve hundreds of units of much-needed affordable housing in Syracuse,” said Senator Schumer. “This isn’t just an investment in new affordable housing, it is a critical investment in our families via education, workforce training, and business development. An investment in building a vibrant Syracuse for when the walls of I-81 come down.”
Schumer added, “When Syracuse’s I-81 was built, it cut through the heart of the 15th Ward, increasing air pollution, concentrating poverty, reducing property values, limiting economic opportunities, and displacing thousands of residents. Federal policies are what divided that Syracuse neighborhood, and today the federal government is stepping up to right that historical urban planning wrong and lay the foundation for reconnecting the community’s future. This community-led plan to redevelop the housing in the shadow of I-81 will help build a brighter, more equitable future for all Syracuse area residents. Since becoming majority leader, I have helped deliver a historic amount of federal funding for Syracuse and Central New York. With today’s investment we are showing yet again how from infrastructure to affordable housing, I-81’s transformation is a national model for reconnecting and reviving communities across America.”
“This historic $50 million in federal funding will reshape public housing in Syracuse as we know it and provide affordable housing, economic development, and improved quality of life for countless families for years to come,” said Senator Gillibrand. “This monumental investment will allow for the revitalization and reconnection of the old 15th Ward, which was devastated when I-81 was built and cut straight through the heart of Syracuse, and will fund the construction of hundreds of new high-quality, sustainable mixed-income housing units. I’m proud to have fought for years to secure this grant that will bring new life to the East Adams neighborhood and the surrounding communities, and I will keep fighting for a more equitable Syracuse.”
Schumer and Gillibrand, working alongside SHA and the City, advocating for this funding, including writing and advocating directly to HUD multiple times. Thanks to the tireless efforts of the community and the senators to deliver these funds, SHA and the City will have access to the federal resources necessary to redevelop over 600 public housing to help transform Syracuse’s East Adams neighborhood, bounded by I-81 to the east, East Adams Street to the north, Midland Avenue to the west, and Colvin Street to the south. Specifically, this federal investment will help:
- Increase the availability of quality housing by helping fund the construction of a large, multi-generational, mixed-income community with affordable, modern, accessible, high-quality, and energy-efficient housing. More specifically, SHA will replace an estimated 672 units of distressed public housing at McKinney Manor and Pioneer Homes. Additionally, SHA and partners will utilize grant funding on services to ensure that all current residents of McKinney Manor and Pioneer Homes public housing units will have first priority to return to the newly constructed units once complete.
- Enhance access to quality education by helping fund Syracuse City School District efforts to improve student performance, building a pipeline of students for the City of Syracuse’s new STEAM High School, and fast-tracking development of the Children’s Rising Center, an early learning and parental empowerment center that will address the lack of quality and affordable childcare in and around the East Adams neighborhood.
- Accelerate economic opportunity by expanding workforce training and small business development in the East Adams neighborhood. More specifically, the transformation plan aims to enhance workforce development initiatives already underway at SUNY Educational Opportunity Center with the creation of a new, SHA-managed East Adams Skill & Enrichment Academy, which will increase Section 3 job opportunities on major local projects like I-81. Additionally, the plan seeks to create a new Black Indigenous People Of Color (BIPOC) Real Estate Development & Entrepreneurship Incubator, in collaboration with CenterState CEO and other key workforce partners, to build capacity, catalyze market competitiveness and increase revenue generation for small, local, minority
-and women-owned businesses. - Expand neighborhood connectivity and visibility by investing in new infrastructure along key travel corridors, including South Salina Street, East Adams Street, Montgomery Street, South Townsend Street, and I-81, to make new connections between the East Adams neighborhood and opportunities across the City. For example, bolstering the Children Rising Center and plans for a new Linear Park connecting Wilson and Roesler parks which will establish a neighborhood greenway and linkages to new amenities for SHA residents and visitors of the new East Adams neighborhood, as well as placemaking efforts to celebrate the legacy of Syracuse’s Historic 15th Ward neighborhood, including a new museum with exhibits honoring Pioneer Homes historic role in public housing. The senators are also both currently pushing for further funding for the Children Rising Center and YMCA in the neighborhood.
Schumer and Gillibrand have a long history advocating for the transformation of I-81 to securing Micron building its massive, new, job-creating chip fabs in the area. Earlier this year, the senators announced an historic $180,010,000 award for Syracuse’s I-81 Viaduct Project as the first in the nation to tap the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) Neighborhood Access and Equity Program (NAE). Earlier this year, Schumer also brought Van Robinson, a Syracuse trailblazer and one of the earliest advocates for tearing down I-81, to President Biden’s State of the Union address this year, to highlight their decades of work together on the project to reconnect the community and importance of federal investment like today’s. Last year, the lawmakers joined Governor Hochul to break ground on the transformational I-81 Viaduct Project, which follows years of advocacy including bringing USDOT Secretary Buttigieg to Syracuse to visit I-81.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Choice Neighborhoods Initiative supports the revitalization of communities through an emphasis on linking housing improvements with comprehensive social services and physical neighborhood improvements. Local leaders, residents, and stakeholders, such as public housing authorities, cities, schools, police, business owners, nonprofits, and private developers, come together to create and implement a plan that revitalizes distressed HUD-assisted housing and addresses the challenges in the surrounding neighborhood. The senators have long-fought to support this critical program, and led the charge to protect the program from harmful cuts proposed by Republicans in recent years.
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