NHS offers loans for home improvement

Michele Gil, NHS home-ownership counselor

West Side homeowners will be able to take advantage of home improvement loans through funding received by the West Side & Black Rock-Riverside Neighborhood Housing Services (NHS).

            The corporation recently received a $169,000 federal grant, which will be made available to any homeowner without income restrictions.

            Applications are available on the NHS website and are reviewed by the loan committee. The committee decides  if the applicant is a good risk and will refer the applicant  to counseling, which is available as part of the corporation’s full-cycle lending services.

            In addition to providing loans, some of the funds will be going towards training and homeowner counseling programs. 

            “One thing about our programs, they’re really designed to create and sustain successful homeowners and that builds strong neighborhoods when you have a higher concentration of homeowners and homeowners who have been trained so that they know what they’re doing,” Laura Sweat, deputy director of the NHS, said.

            The NHS is a private not-for-profit corporation whose mission is to preserve and revitalize Buffalo’s neighborhoods by providing safe, affordable and sustainable housing opportunities for all. By Jamie Hall, Kamesha Jones and Jazmina Rivera