West Side Neighborhood Housing Services 2015 ANNUAL REPORT
TABLE OF CONTENTS A Message from the Executive Director & The Board President 1 Mission & Vision Statement 2 Board of Directors 3 Staff 4 Programs & Services 5 Special Projects & Milestones 6 Achievements 7-8 Programs Assessment 9 Statement of Activities 10-11 Funders & Sponsors 12
A Message from our Executive Director & our Board President ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 1
MISSION West Side Neighborhood Housing Services Inc. is a private, not-for-profit corporation dedicated to the preservation and revitalization of Buffalo s neighborhoods by providing safe, affordable and sustainable housing opportunities for all. VISION West Side Neighborhood Housing Services Inc., along with engaged citizens, will transform Buffalo s West Side neighborhoods into stable communities of choice with safe streets, strong local economic activity and sustainable home ownership for all income levels. 2
BOARD OF DIRECTORS Lisa Akers Board Chairperson Michael Woods Secretary Nick Bonifacio Vice Chairperson Sam DiCenzo Treasurer Karla J.L. Gadley Carole D. Perla Robert Karp William Abels David Granville Eric Gadley Dan Hawrylczak Ramon Morales Gary Link Nicholas DelMonte 3
STAFF Megan Burns-Moran Executive Director Bill Buzak* Construction Services Manager Christopher Flynn Lending Programs Manager Edwin Jackson Mortgage Counselor Michele Gil Homeownership Counselor Debbie Lombardo Community Outreach Coordinator Pamela Kwiatkowski Homeownership Counselor Julienne Sands* Housing Specialist Melissa Ragan Mortgage Counselor Micah Winship Housing Specialist Grace Tomasulo Office Manager Kristen Ducey Certified Public Accountant Brandon Schlia Communications Specialist *Shared Staff Black Rock-Riverside NHS, Inc. 4
PROGRAMS & SERVICES HOMEBUYER EDUCATION Guiding you from the initial stages of buying a home all the way to managing household finances and maintaining good credit. Participants in our program get all the tools they need to become long-term, successful homeowners. DOWN PAYMENT & CLOSING COST ASSISTANCE Need assistance in the final steps of home purchase? We can offer assistance with Down Payments and Closing costs. This may include: insurance, title searches, city/county property taxes, water and sewer costs, points & legal fees. Conditions apply. FORECLOSURE PREVENTION Having trouble keeping up with your mortgage? Think you may be in a predatory mortgage situation? Our Mortgage Counselor may be able to help; offered free of charge to residents throughout Erie County. HOME IMPROVEMENT LOANS Provides low-interest loans to help residents maintain and make improvements to their homes. Those who choose us as a lender receive construction specialists to ensure that contractors complete work correctly and for a reasonable price. MINOR HOME REPAIR Helping income-eligible seniors, single heads-of-households and dependents & people with disabilities to complete small home repairs they may not have the financial or physical means to do themselves. We provide a worker & in some special cases, some of the materials to carry out repairs. As a NeighborWorks Chartered Member, we partner with Black Rock-Riverside NHS Inc. to provide programs that strengthen neighborhoods by creating successful homeowners and residents. BLOCK CLUBS Are you interested in being part of a positive change in your neighborhood? We can get you on the right track to starting a block club of your own or inform you how you can participate with the groups that may already be formed. 5
SPECIAL PROJECTS & MILESTONES University at Buffalo H.O.M.E. Program WSNHS is proud to be partnering with University at Buffalo as well as the UB Foundation to encourage home ownership in the community near South Campus. This initiative was many years in the making and the tireless dedication of our staff, alongside the efforts of the University, have allowed this important offer to be fully realized. ESSER AVE GARDEN CLEAN-UP We are a green certified agency and this year we continued our mission to create positive environmental impacts with our Re-Tree efforts on 4/18 and 11/9, as well as revitalizing the Esser Ave Community Garden and establishing the West Side Community Garden NOVEMBER RE-TREE GRACE S 35th ANNIVERSARY WSNHS 35th ANNIVERSARY BILL S 16th ANNIVERSARY On June 10th, 2015, WSNHS celebrated 35 years of service to our community. Anniversaries are a special marker of where we began and how far we ve come along. There is no substitute for experience and we ve got a lot of it. Additionally, in the spirit of milestones, our tireless Office Manager, Grace Tomasulo, is celebrating her 35th anniversary along with our esteemed Construction Services Manager, Bill Buzak, celebrating his 16th anniversary. Not every cause is lucky enough to have the force of truly loyal individuals behind it and we re so grateful for their service, not only to this organization, but to the community itself. 6
MARKETING ACHIEVEMENTS Exponential increases in page likes for 2015 Trending into the 1k range for Organic Reach Averaging daily Reach & Engagement numbers in the 200 s Seeing further exponential gains in interactive responses from our fans 7
PROGRAM ACHIEVEMENTS LOAN APPROVALS We increased lending dramatically this year, from 17 loans approved in FY 2014 to 44 loans approved in FY 2015. $328,000 $890,000 FISCAL YEAR 2014 FISCAL YEAR 2015 OWNER-OCCUPIED REHABILITATION LOANS 100 units rehabbed with an average investment of $9,400 per unit. DOWN PAYMENT ASSISTANCE / HOMEBUYER COUNSELING We created 170 new homeowners compared to 144 in FY 2014 8
PROGRAM ASSESSMENT 10/1/2014-9/30/2015 HOMEOWNERSHIP PRESERVATION 2014 2015 GREATER THAN $2,000 INVESTMENT Rehab projects completed (units) 73 100 Total rehab investment (including loans and grants) $4,218,800* $947,248 *FY14 includes 3.2 million dedicated to the restoration of the historic White s Livery LESS THAN $2,000 INVESTMENT Rehab projects completed (units) 58 57 Total rehab investment (including loans and grants) $15,300 $17,578 Positive Foreclosure Outcomes (homes saved) 23 30 HOMEOWNERSHIP PROMOTION Number of new homeowners created 114 170 Families receiving homebuyer education 259 295 COMMUNITY BUIDLING AND ORGANIZING Resident Volunteer Hours 613 964 TOTAL INVESTMENT IN OUR COMMUNITY 2014: $16,172,100 2015: $18,441,339 Total Investment in our Community is the cash value of loans and grants distributed by West Side NHS combined with the cash value of mortgages approved for new homebuyers trained through our programs or assisted with our products (leveraged dollars) in quarters 1-4 of FY15. It does not include the value of counseling service hours or volunteer hours. 9
STATEMENT OF ACTIVITIES 10/1/2014-9/30/2015 ADMINISTRATIVE FUNDS NYS Division of Housing and Community Renewal $68,434 (DHCR) Lender Contributions $47,500 NeighborWorks America $79,250 HUD Counseling Grant $43,914 City of Buffalo $71,500 TOTAL $267,848 PROGRAM FUNDS Homeowner Protection Program $150,312 (Bank of America Foreclosure Prevention) AHC Affordable Housing Corp $400,000 A corporation audit of all accounts for the fiscal year was conducted. This report, along with the financial statements from previous years, will be available at West Side NHS. 10
STATEMENT OF ACTIVITIES 10/1/2014-9/30/2015 PUBLIC SUPPORT & REVENUE Grants and Donations $349,511 Contract Revenue $39,092 Earned Revenue $215,692 TOTAL PUBLIC SUPPORT & REVENUE $604,295 TOTAL PUBLIC SUPPORT & REVENUE Program Services $51,545 Supporting Services $416,144 TOTAL EXPENSES $467,689 A corporation audit of all accounts for the fiscal year was conducted. This report, along with the financial statements from previous years, will be available at West Side NHS. 11
THANKS FOR SUPPORTING WEST SIDE NHS West Side Neighborhood Housing Services wishes to sincerely thank the following organizations and individuals for their support of our vision and funding of our programs. ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// NeighborWorks America Homebuyer Education & Counseling Emergency and Home Improvement Loans Closing Cost Assistance General operating funds Niagara District Councilmember David Rivera Minor Home Repair Program Citizens Bank Financial capability counseling Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Homebuyer education Federal Home Loan Bank Owner occupied rehabilitation loans First Home Club IDA Savings Plan State Employee Federal Credit Union SEFCU Holiday Gift Program Evans Bank Translation Services NYS Housing & Community Renewal (HCR) General operating funds NYS HOME Owner Occupied Rehab Program NYS RESTORE Program (Emergency Rehab Services for the Elderly) NYS Affordable Housing Corp. Owner-Occ. Rehab Program North District Councilmember Joseph Golombek Minor Home Repair Program Community Building and Organizing NYS Office of the Attorney General Foreclosure Prevention Counseling The City of Buffalo and Mayor Byron Brown The Livery Project Bilingual counselor C.H.D.O. (Community Housing Developing Organization) Acquisition-Rehab-Resale Projects First Niagara Bank Homebuyer education & counseling 35th Anniversary Celebration University at Buffalo / UB Foundation UB H.O.M.E. Program 12