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Law clinic lands money for new homes
The former Diocesan Education Campus on the East Side of Buffalo will become St. Martin Village, site of 60 housing units. Photo: SUE WUETCHER
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“It’s a good result for the community at large and proof that UB is an economic development engine for the city and the region.”
UB Law School’s Affordable Housing Clinic has helped to secure three grants totaling more than $28 million that will enable the construction of 106 new housing units in the City of Buffalo.
The new housing on the city’s west, east and south sides, will be energy-efficient apartments with affordable rents for senior citizens and low-income persons. Funding for the construction projects will come through the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal.
“This is a real tribute to the work the clinic has done, along with its students,” says George Hezel, clinical professor of law and director of the Affordable Housing Clinic. “They have poured their hearts and souls into this project. It’s a good result for the community at large and proof that UB is an economic development engine for the city and the region. If Buffalo is going to remain competitive in its search for federal and state funds, it needs an experienced and sophisticated advocate. With the clinic, we have an edge that other cities don’t have.”
The projects that won funding are:
• St. Martin Village, comprising 60 units of housing on the former Diocesan Education Campus at 564 Dodge St. Two existing, three-story buildings will be rehabilitated into 24 two-bedroom units and a chapel building will become a community center to be operated by the Community Action Organization. In addition, 36 townhouse units—24 three-bedroom and 12 four-bedroom—will be newly constructed. Rents will be affordable for households that earn less than half the area’s median income, and nine units will be configured for residents with special needs.
• Holy Family Senior Apartments, with 35 affordable apartments for senior citizens to be developed at the former Holy Family Elementary School building at 920 Tifft St. in South Buffalo. The apartments will include 30 one-bedroom and five two-bedroom units. Nine units will be handicapped-accessible. Also included will be a large community room and improved facilities for the South Buffalo Food Pantry that Catholic Charities operates at the site. The sponsors are Delta Development of Western New York and Living Communities LLC.
• People United for Sustainable Housing, which will build 11 units of housing in a distressed neighborhood on the West Side. Three buildings on Massachusetts Avenue—a commercial storefront and long-vacant apartments—will be rehabilitated to create four one-bedroom, four two-bedroom and three three-bedroom apartments. All units will be affordable for households at or below 50 percent of the area median income.
Founded in 1987, the UB clinic, along with clinics at Yale and Seton Hall universities, pioneered the field of affordable housing clinics in U.S. law schools, championing a movement to bring practical work experience into the classroom, while providing students with meaningful ways to improve their communities.
The recent grants bring to nearly $200 million the total amount of private equity, loan and grant money the UB clinic has been able to leverage to help finance more than 2,000 units of affordable housing in Western New York for low-income families, the elderly, targets of domestic violence and people with disabilities.
The work of the Law School’s legal clinics advances the UB 2020 strategic strength “Civic Engagement and Public Policy, which supports faculty research and scholarship that addresses pressing social and policy issues in collaboration with community partners, while also generating scholarly expertise. “There is no law firm, nor are there non-profits, that could sustain the effort that a Law School clinic can sustain,” Hezel says.
In addition to affordable housing, the UB Law School also offers clinics addressing such topics as family violence, the environment, elder law and community economic development.
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