How one neighborhood housing service plans to fight Ithaca’s housing crisis

The Ithaca Neighborhood Housing Service was created 46 years ago (Photo: Aubren Villasenor)

Ithaca N.Y. — With a rental vacancy rate below 3%, the city of Ithaca is experiencing a housing shortage.

The nation is currently “6.5 million homes short” of what is needed to house the country, with a nationwide rental vacancy rate of 6.3 percent. This problem is amplified within a small city like Ithaca with a high demand for housing. During the pandemic, rental prices increased more than 10%, the largest increase in the State of New York. 

To help address the issue of housing insecurity in Ithaca, several community organizations have taken a lead in supporting residents to secure and establish housing within the city of Ithaca. The Ithaca Neighborhood Service (INHS) is one of those organizations.

Lynne Traume, director of real estate development at INHS, said that the organization focuses primarily on developing housing projects.

“We build the housing and we’re the landlords,” Traume said. “When we have populations in our properties that require support services, we connect them with other organizations, like Catholic Charities, etc.”

Samantha Kistler,  who was forced to move from Ithaca due to property taxes, welcomes INHS’ efforts, but wishes there were more programs to support affordable housing. 

“I think what INHS is doing is great, but is it enough, no it’s not,” Kistler said. 

Traume said the biggest roadblock INHS faces in developing more projects is the size of the bureaucracy attached to state funding. 

New York is great about providing new sources trying to help fill [funding gaps],” Traume said. “ But because it's state funding, there are many strings attached to it, which tend to make the projects more complicated, which then of course, makes them more expensive.”

An economic rollercoaster

In an effort to limit the spread of the coronavirus and protect vulnerable renters and homeowners during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control instituted a nationwide eviction moratorium. Those protections have since expired, leaving many vulnerable. 

In the 1970s, a variety of economic factors including an oil embargo, removal of the gold standard in the United States and the cost of the Vietnam War, resulted in stagflation. The poor economic conditions fueled urban decay, affecting major metropolises like NYC to smaller areas  like Ithaca.

“In 1976, when INHS was founded, people were leaving the city, property values were falling and homes were falling into disrepair so INHS was started specifically making small improvements to help stabilize the neighborhood,” Traume said. 

Kistler found the original mission of combating falling property values in Ithaca, ironic given the current state of the rental market. 

“As someone who's currently struggling to find an affordable apartment in the city, all I want is for [rent prices] to fall,” Kistler said. 

Those projects focused on community development in addition to removing blight. All of which were an effort to stabilize property values during a time of economic insecurity. 

INHS has supported development projects throughout the finger lakes region (Photo: Aubren Villasenor)

“Our first programs were dedicated to replacing porches,” Traume said. “We got a Community Development Block Grant to repair porches along Cleveland Ave., which provided an opportunity for neighbors to sit on their front porch and start to form an interactive community again.” 

Now, with rising property values forcing many longtime residents out of the city, the organization has shifted to supporting low and moderate income homeowners in their effort to secure and maintain housing. 

Beyond home acquisition

To support current homeowners, INHS has a variety of services related to homeownership, including a subsidized home repair service.


“We have construction services where we go out to the homes of existing moderate income homeowners who have repair needs, ranging from putting a handrail on a stair all the way up to building a new ramp, because they need an accessibility improvement or replacing our roof,” Traume said. 

Home repairs are available at subsidized cost for residents (Photo: Aubren Villasenor)

Traume said one of her favorite projects was redeveloping the former Immaculate Conception school, into a new affordable housing complex known as the Founders Way apartments. 

“So being able to do something like that, and fit it back into the community while using existing resources is my favorite,” Traume said.