A drop in with the Ithaca Neighborhood Housing Service

As a college student, I know first hand that finding and securing affordable housing within the city of Ithaca can prove to be a daunting task. With a rental vacancy rate below 3% and hearing horror stories from many of my peers, I opted to live on-campus my senior year. Thus, as the housing beat reporter for Ithaca Week, for my second article I was interested in learning about the housing services in Ithaca dedicated to supporting affordable housing in the city of Ithaca.

The Ithaca Neighborhood Housing Service (INHS) is just one of several housing support agencies within the Tompkins County area. Established in 1976, the organization was ironically created with a goal of stabilizing property values, during a time when they were falling due to poor economic conditions. Fast forward to today, and the organization is now dedicated to supporting and developing affordable housing units within and around the Tompkins County area. 

As a college student, learning there was an organization dedicated to increasing the number of affordable housing units on the market was and is incredibly reassuring. In addition, the organization also has a small repairs service where it conducts home repairs at subsidized rates, to help people stay in their homes and maintain their homes. 

In the news we often hear about the housing shortages affecting the city of Ithaca, thus as a journalist I made it my goal to write about the affordable housing resources in the city. You can read more about INHS in my Ithaca Week article.