Buffalo Mayor Sean Ryan recently announced a new plan to address the city’s vacant-building problem and housing shortage: prioritize stabilization and rehabilitation before demolition.
The announcement, on May 29, follows a 60-day moratorium on the issuance of demolition permits. The Demolition Diversion and Stabilization First Policy emphasizes expanding the city’s housing stock, strengthening neighborhoods and protecting the city’s tax base. To support these goals, Ryan plans to redirect $700,000 currently allocated for demolition to Community Development Block Grant funding. These funds will be used for stabilization efforts, emergency securing of structures, weatherproofing and other preservation-focused interventions. By prioritizing rehabilitation, the city aims to prevent further deterioration and preserve buildings whenever feasible.
Mayor Ryan is urging state lawmakers to pass related legislation that would allow Buffalo to tax vacant buildings and land at a different rate, thereby increasing the cost of holding such properties without redevelopment. The broader objective is to encourage the return of vacant and deteriorating properties to productive economic use through rehabilitation.
For developers, property owners, and housing stakeholders, this is a notable policy shift: Buffalo is signaling that preservation may play a larger role in addressing the housing shortage. Harris Beach Murtha’s Commercial Real Estate Practice Group and Affordable Housing Industry Team are monitoring this policy development and what it could mean for real estate, redevelopment and affordable housing activity in Buffalo.
Summer Associate Ashanti R. Nelson contributed to this report.
For further details on how Buffalo’s housing stabilization efforts might impact your projects, or if you have questions for our lawyers, please reach out to attorney Michael A. Discenza at (212) 912-3605 and mdiscenza@harrisbeachmurtha.com; or the Harris Beach Murtha attorney with whom you most frequently work.
This alert is not a substitute for advice of counsel on specific legal issues.
Harris Beach Murtha’s lawyers and consultants practice from offices throughout Connecticut in Bantam, Hartford, New Haven and Stamford; New York State in Albany, Binghamton, Buffalo, Ithaca, New York City, Niagara Falls, Rochester, Saratoga Springs, Syracuse, Long Island and White Plains; as well as in Boston, Massachusetts, and Newark, New Jersey.