Feds funding Westhab apartment upgrades

The Westchester nonprofit Westhab is receiving $500,000 in federal funding to upgrade 79 apartments in nine apartment buildings in Yonkers. The buildings themselves also are due to receive various improvements. Westhab develops affordable and supportive housing, operates homeless shelters, and provides youth programs and employment services in Westchester and New York City.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Congressman Jamaal Bowman went to a Westhab building at 97 Bruce Ave. in Yonkers for the April 20 funding announcement.

Sen. Schumer, left, and Rep. Bowman in Yonkers on April 20.

“Every Westchester family deserves a safe and secure place to call home, but historic underinvestment has created a housing crisis in places like Southwest Yonkers,” Schumer said. “Access to affordable housing is a fundamental right, and this funding gets to the issue at its core by making critical upgrades and repairs so that Yonkers residents can have the quality of life they deserve.”

Bowman said, “In Yonkers many of our neighbors are experiencing housing insecurity and Westhab is perfectly positioned to address this crisis by offering affordable housing and fighting to end homelessness.”

Rich Nightingale, Westhab”™s president and CEO, pointed out that while Westhab develops new housing, it also needs to preserve existing affordable housing “so that all members of our community have a high-quality home.”

The funding is expected to be used for improvements to roofs and fire safety systems, window replacement, utility upgrades and apartment renovations.

Schumer”™s office referenced year 2020 data from the United Way of Westchester and Putnam indicating that a majority of households living in the Southwest Yonkers zip codes 10701 and 10705 earn more than the Federal Poverty Level but less than the basic cost of living in Westchester. That puts them in the category known as ALICE, taken from “asset limited, income constrained, employed.” The data showed that 66% of the 22,535 households in zip 10701 and 64% of the 14,260 households in zip 10705 were in the ALICE category.