Thomas O'Neil-White | July 11, 2024 Eight plaintiffs including four City of Buffalo residents and four community organizations filed a lawsuit to compel the city to fully implement the Proactive Rental Inspections Law. The law is intended to protect residents living in rental properties from health …
Deidre Williams | July 11, 2024 Dorothy Oatmeyer says the Duerstein Street house where she and her family reside feels as though it is falling apart. There are holes between bricks and in the corners of windowsills. Bricks are falling off the back of the house. The kitchen floor is missing in large …
I'Jaz Ja'ciel | July 11, 2024 Tenants and community organizations are taking the City of Buffalo to court, contending it is failing to enforce rental inspection laws aimed at reducing lead paint in the city’s aging housing stock. The inspection law, enacted in 2020, was in response to the …
Harold McNeil | May 15, 2024 Housing Opportunities Made Equal, or HOME, is a local nonprofit agency that helps tenants deal with housing issues, among the most prevalent of which is unsafe housing conditions, according to Steven Haagsma, education manager for the agency. It's why he and a …
Buffalo News Editorial Board | April 27, 2024 It’s time to look forward. We’re expecting ideas and projects that will move Buffalo in a robust, innovative direction, as well as discussion of improvements in services and infrastructure when Mayor Byron W. Brown presents his State of the …
Buffalo News Editorial Board | April 14, 2024 Finding and fixing problems in aging rental units before it’s necessary to use punitive enforcement is a great idea. Making that policy a law? Even better. But laws need to be implemented and the city of Buffalo’s reluctance to fully …
In cities across the United States, everyday people are working to transform our democracy by strengthening their voices in local government, shaping an economy that works for all, and reimagining public safety and health. They are organizing locally to imagine and build a new future where people …
Deidre Williams | April 9, 2024 Three years ago when Buffalo launched a Proactive Rental Inspections program, it was the city’s latest attempt to solve a lead poisoning problem that has plagued Buffalo’s old housing stock for decades. Mayor Byron W. Brown said it would help the city …
We prepared this memo for the Buffalo Common Council to explore potential funding options for the Proactive Rental Inspection (PRI) program. It discusses modestly increasing the city's rental registry fee, using American Rescue Plan funds, and several other funding options. We sent this memo along …
On March 14, 2024, Commissioner Cathy Amdur of the Dept of Permits and Inspections submitted a report to the council (download) about the status of Proactive Rental Inspections program. On March 28, PPG submitted the following letter to the council in response to the Commissioner's report. We …
The Editorial Board | March 8, 2024 A group of 39 community organizations had every right to be frustrated. Their members gathered in front of City Hall on a chilly February day to protest the continuing exposure of Buffalo’s children to toxic lead paint. Lead paint is mainly a problem …
Uniting on the High Road: A Conference on Economic Justice at the Local Level will take place on June 20-22, 2024 in Buffalo, NY. Hosted by Cornell University ILR Buffalo Co-Lab and Partnership for the Public Good, with community and academic partners from across Buffalo and nationwide, the …