Help Available for Elderly and Disabled to Remain in Home

The Access to Home Program is now available to income-eligible elderly and disabled homeowners and renters with landlord approval to make necessary home modifications helping those individuals remain in their homes.  Eligible modifications include items such as adding ramps, widening doorways and remodeling bathrooms to include grab bars, step in showers and more.

Up to $10,000 is available per unit for accessibility modifications and is considered a deferred loan, which means customers do not need to pay the funds back provided they remain in the home for the term of the loan.  Applications for this program are available to city of Syracuse and Onondaga County residents on a first come, first served basis at ARISE, Loretto, Enable, PEACE, Inc., and Onondaga County’s Department of Aging and Youth. 

For more information and contact information for application sites, please click here.

We’re hoping to Make You Sweat!

Mystery chicken dinner or shoveling some dirt?  Lots of lovely speeches or getting some paint on your clothes?  Cash bar or maybe a bottle of semi-cold water for enjoying while picking up garbage, planting some bushes or fixing a fence?  If the latter sounds more enticing--we have just the ticket for you!

Home HeadQuarters is throwing a Neighborhood Block Blitz on Thursday, August 6th.  The daylong event will focus on multiple blocks in both the Northside and Near Westside neighborhoods and offer volunteers the chance to work up a sweat fixing, painting and cleaning up homes and properties in the targeted areas.

We’re looking for folks to sponsor volunteers, provide materials and tools and underwrite the activities planned for the day.  If you’re interested in getting your hands dirty (or putting someone else to work), please contact Karen Schroeder at (315) 474-1939 x249 or email info@homehq.org.

Limited Openings for 1% Home Improvement Loans

A handful of available slots have just opened for the ever-popular neighborhood 1% Home Improvement Loans.  If you live in one of the following neighborhoods, you may be eligible to apply for this affordable renovation program and not miss this construction season:

• Valley
• Eastwood
• Far West Side
• Court-Woodlawn

Funding for these programs is limited, so apply now!  For more info click here.

Adirondack Bank—FlexFund Participant

Where does Home HeadQuarters get the loan capital for all the 1% neighborhood loans, the energy improvement loans and all of its home improvement loans throughout Central New York? Banks and credit unions who participate in Home HeadQuarters FlexFund Loan Fund provide the capital that we then loan out to you at affordable rates. We thank Adirondack Bank for climbing on board!

Adirondack serves the Syracuse market with a branch office at 120 East Washington Street. AVP and Manager Mary Beth Mumford feels the FlexFund Program is a perfect fit for providing lending resources under the Bank's "Community Bank" mission.

For more home improvement loan information click here.

NeighborWorks® Week Alumni Celebration

Dozens of accomplished HomeBuyer Education graduates and their families joined Home HeadQuarters’ HomeOwnership Center staff in celebrating their successful start on the path to HomeOwnership.  The event was held as part of NeighborWorks® Week, a celebration in its 26th year of the close to 240 NeighborWorks® organizations throughout the nation that make up the NeighborWorks® Network.  Home HeadQuarters also celebrated being noted for its accomplishments in homeownership as it ranks in the top 20 nationally for creating new and successful homeowners.

Congratulations to Eric Bloodworth (pictured with HomeOwnership Center Director Sharon Owens) and Andrea Messenger who were awarded during the Alumni Celebration for their accomplishments in “Credit Achievement” and “Reaching Financial Goals” as part of the Key Foundation Credit Yourself Program conducted by Home HeadQuarters.

Also during the Alumni Celebration, kudos went to Tim Bargelski and Tanya Froio of HSBC Bank as “Good Neighbor” award winners for going above and beyond in helping Syracuse families achieve the dream of homeownership.

What the Heck is HECM?

HECM, or home equity conversion mortgages, are better known to most of us as reverse mortgages.  Available to homeowners 62 and older, they provide, for some, a reasonable and affordable way to remain in the owned home by essentially paying out the equity built in the home to the homeowner while the obligation to repay that “loan” is deferred until the homeowner dies, leaves or the house is sold.

To receive a federally-insured reverse mortgage, homeowners are required by HUD to obtain counseling by a HUD-certified counseling agency such as Home HeadQuarters.  Some organizations charge for the counseling, but Home HeadQuarters’ counseling is free of charge.  For more information on HECM counseling, please contact Sharon Owens by calling (315) 474-1939 x228 or by emailing info@homehq.org.