Binghamton Awarded $500,000 New York Cities RISE Grant

The City of Binghamton is getting over a half million dollars to fight blight in neighborhoods.

New York Attorney General Letitia James was in the Southern Tier February 20 and announced Elmira and Binghamton are being awarded $1.5 million in grants in the third phase of the Cities RISE program for housing and code enforcement initiatives.

Binghamton plans to use its $585,000 to help break the cycle of disinvestment by entities that buy up properties for development but fail to keep up on those plans or maintain the properties, dragging down the values of neighboring lots.

The City says it will provide housing and casework support as well as an emergency repair fund to directly deal with substandard housing conditions and bring properties up to code.

The “Cities for Responsible Investment and Strategic Enforcement" program was launched in April of 2017 in the aftermath of the foreclosure crisis.

Elmira is getting $1 million under the latest phase to expand its rental inspections to make sure all rental units in the City are safe.