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Fixing Rental Housing Starts with Tenant Protections | Buffalo in Transition
Sarah Wooton — May 15, 2025
Half of all renter households in the City of Buffalo can’t afford their housing, and 31% spend more than half their income on rent, leaving little for food, transportation, or other basic needs. On top of this, much of Buffalo’s housing stock contains toxic lead paint, with around 400 children poisoned each year. Stronger tenant protections and more stable housing are possible through common-sense steps: passing Good Cause Eviction, fully implementing the City’s Proactive …
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Putting Vacant Land to Good Use | Buffalo in Transition
Sam Magavern — May 15, 2025
Today, there are around 15,300 total vacant lots in Buffalo, and almost half of them (7,400) are owned by the City and other related public agencies. Examples from Buffalo and around the nation show that vacant lots can be repurposed to promote equity and sustainability with new uses such as green affordable housing and community gardens.
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Supporting Low-Income Homeowners | Buffalo in Transition
Anna Falicov — May 15, 2025
About a quarter of all homeowners in the City of Buffalo earn less than $35,000 a year. For many low-income property owners, keeping homes up to code is difficult due to the high cost of repairs. While property taxes in Buffalo are relatively low compared to other New York State communities, many homeowners still struggle to stay current on taxes, user fees, and sewer rent bills. City Hall can take several proactive steps to help low-income homeowners maintain and build equity in their homes. …
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Policy Framework for Vacant Lots Disposition
Vacant Lots Task Force — Nov 29, 2022
Currently, there are about 8,000 publicly-owned vacant lots in the city of Buffalo, and most are located on the East side. Instead of allowing the land to lay neglected–a consequence of this issue’s massive scale and the city’s limited resources– the city could use the vacant land it owns on behalf of the public for more equitable, sustainable and just uses, including for affordable housing, community gardens, passive green space, carbon sequestration, parks and …
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Why Buffalo Needs Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD): Reducing Arrests and Providing Alternatives to Incarceration
Andrea Ó Súilleabháin, Tanvier Peart — Dec 1, 2020
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The Eastside-Airport Metro Rail Extension
Citizens for Regional Transit — Aug 23, 2019
This policy brief provides information regarding the expansion of NFTA metro-rail services in east-side Buffalo to the Buffalo Niagara International Airport.
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Census 2020: Making Western New York Count
Anna Blatto — Jun 10, 2019
This policy brief offers an overview of the 2020 Census: what it is and why it matters for Western New York.
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Advancing Racial Equity and Public Health: Smarter Marijuana Laws in Western New York
Andrea Ó Súilleabháin — Nov 14, 2017
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Why Buffalo Needs Inclusionary Zoning; Affordability, Workforce Development, Inclusion, and Quality Housing
Sarah Wooton, Sam Magavern — Jun 2, 2017
Buffalo’s housing market faces four severe challenges: affordability, job access, inclusiveness, and quality. Inclusionary zoning is a proven tool for addressing all four issues. Inclusionary zoning asks that when a developer creates new housing units, it reserve a certain percent for affordable housing. Thus, inclusionary zoning leverages the power of the market to create more high-quality affordable housing units, often near job centers and transit lines, and to make …
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Lead Poisoning: Triggers and Thresholds
Adam Hains — Feb 10, 2017
Hains reviews the basic framework of federal and state laws aimed at preventing lead poisoning. Given the growing body of research that even small amounts of lead cause can decrease cognitive performance and increase behavioral problems, Hains suggests that New York State lower its threshold of concern and supply additional funding, so that more children receive case management services and more units get their lead problems abated.
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A Plan that Bears Fruit: A Community Land Trust and Other Tools For Neighborhood Revitalization in the Fruit Belt
Fidèle Menavanza Jun 22, 2016
On December 1, 2015, the City of Buffalo’s Common Council passed a resolution placing a moratorium on the sale of city-owned lots in the Fruit Belt neighborhood. The Fruit Belt includes the area enclosed by Cherry Street, Jefferson Avenue, Best Street, Main Street, Goodell Street, and Michigan Avenue – a neighborhood where the City of Buffalo owns over 200 vacant lots. The City promised not to sell lots to developers until “a duly approved strategic plan” had …
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Reforming Buffalo's Tax Foreclosure Process
Jonathan Baird — Sep 30, 2011
The City of Buffalo holds an annual foreclosure auction to collect on delinquent taxes and fees owed by its residents. This is a way for the City to raise revenue that would otherwise go unpaid and for Buffalo citizens to buy buildings and lots at bargain prices. But the foreclosure process is imposing a high cost upon some of Buffalo’s most vulnerable citizens, creating an unnecessary burden on people trying to stay in their homes, and adding to the already existing epidemic …