SYRACUSE, N.Y. — State and local officials on Oct. 25 joined Housing Visions to cut the ribbon on the home at 1540 E. Genesee St. in Syracuse, which is part of a multi-home renovation project called the Winston Gaskin Homes.

It’s a $22 million development that renovated 20 buildings on both the east and north sides of Syracuse, according to a document from Housing Visions.

Housing Visions is a Syracuse–based nonprofit developer of affordable housing.

The 66 newly rehabilitated apartments offer affordable and energy-efficient homes for families and individuals. Of those apartments, 20 units are reserved for homeless victims of domestic violence and their families, per Housing Visions.

Housing Visions Construction Co. Inc. was the general contractor on the project, Elizabeth Wierbinski, development project manager with Housing Visions, tells CNYBJ in an email.

The work on the project began in May 2019.

Several subcontractors assisted Housing Visions on the effort, including Pella Windows & Doors of DeWitt; Angelo Chiodo Heating & Air Conditioning of Syracuse; Butler Fence Co. Inc. of Syracuse; Bruce Electric of DeWitt; and J. Lindsley Roofing, LLC of Fulton, Wierbinski said.

Financing for Winston Gaskin Homes included federal and state low-income housing tax credits that generated about $14.2 million in equity and $2 million in subsidies from New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR). 

The New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA) provided nearly $3 million through the Homeless Housing Assistance Program. NBT Bank (NASDAQ: NBTB) and the Federal Home Loan Bank’s affordable-housing program provided additional financing.

About the project

Originally constructed between 1900 and 1930, the buildings underwent moderate rehabilitation funded by the state in the early- and mid-1990s. The development is comprised of 14 buildings on the eastside of Syracuse, mostly along East Genesee Street, and six buildings on the northside near the corner of Catherine and Hickory Streets. The reconstruction was designed to complement the community’s architecture and enhance revitalization efforts in Syracuse.

The project is named for Winston (Win) Gaskin, an African American Syracuse resident, pharmacist, Army veteran, and community leader who died in 2009. He chaired a committee at University United Methodist Church that established the Neighborhood Linking Project, an outreach to the church’s neighborhood on Syracuse’s east side. His leadership of that committee helped lead to the formation of Housing Visions in 1992.

“Win was a pretty powerful but quiet guy,” Ben Lockwood, CEO of Housing Visions, said in his remarks. 

The project is the preservation and upgrade of five of the first affordable housing developments of Housing Visions, per its document on the project. Partners in the effort include HCR, New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, Empire State Supportive Housing Initiative, CREA, NBT Bancorp, Corporation for Supportive Housing, Holmes King Kallquist & Associates, YWCA of Syracuse & Onondaga County, and Housing Visions Construction Co. Inc. 

The Winston Gaskin Homes project is part of the state’s $20 billion, five-year housing plan, HCR said. It involves making housing accessible and combating homelessness by building or preserving more than 100,000 affordable homes and 6,000 homes with supportive services. 

Over the last decade in Central New York, HCR has invested more than $300 million to create or preserve 4,100 affordable apartments in multifamily developments, the agency noted.

“This is an amazing example of what the power of a housing plan and resources at the state level combined with federal resources combined with resources from municipalities can do that will allow families to be able to live and shop and work and raise their families in vibrant neighborhoods that are affordable where they want to call home,” RuthAnne Visnauskas, commissioner of New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR), said in her remarks at the Oct. 25 event.