TRUMANSBURG, N.Y. — The village of Trumansburg was certified as a “pro-housing” community by New York State Monday. The village government can now apply for grants from the $650 million in state discretionary funding allocated in the 2025 budget to help local governments meet housing goals.
New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR), which approves applications on a rolling basis, certified the village, according to a statement.
The city of Ithaca was named a pro-housing community in May of this year, following the village of Dryden in February. Nearby Binghamton and Johnson City were also certified in February.
Mayor Rordan Hart said the village was able to “check all the boxes” to be included in the state’s initiative to expand housing stock and improve infrastructure.
Hart said the village has taken immediate advantage of the certification to apply for grants to improve the existing sanitary sewer collection system which, for many years, has been treating groundwater leaking into the system from “unknown areas.”
“There’s areas of the village where water has been infiltrating the sewage system for decades,” Hart said in an interview. “We’ve spent a lot of time investigating where it’s coming from and it’s not as obvious as one might think.”
A recent engineering report concluded that in order to “comprehensively address” some of those infiltration issues, Hart said the village would have to spend much more than they are able to.
“We’ve made some strides. And being able to apply for additional grant money to do more will be very helpful,” Hart said.
Funding from multiple state housing-development initiatives is only available to localities certified as a Pro-Housing Community, including the Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI) and the NY Forward Program, which targets revitalizing smaller, rural communities.
The Pro-Housing Communities Program launched in 2023 as a part of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s package of executive actions to increase the state’s housing supply.
As of August 9, the state has certified 162 municipalities, according to the Pro-Housing Communities dashboard.
The post Village of Trumansburg joins list of state’s pro-housing communities eligible for funding appeared first on The Ithaca Voice.