CENTRAL NEW YORK COMMUNITY SOLUTIONS INC

Self-Sufficiency Housing Resource Center is a one stop housing navigator center that seeks to provide housing and information referral services to 150 per year through housing counseling, referrals, and application assistance. The center provides free information assistance, referral, advocacy, and support to individuals and families who need help finding and maintaining their housing, particularly low-income, homeless, and housing unstable people. We help people access affordable housing/rental assistance programs, find homeless people temporary and permanent housing, provide tenant responsibility education, help to prevent evictions and foreclosures, assist first-time homebuyers to purchase their first homes, and offer assistance to homeowners seeking home improvement grants and loans. We also provide other self-sufficiency services such as financial literacy and job placement. The Resource Center is operated by the staff as well as AmeriCorps members assigned to the Municipal Authority of the City of Utica, New York. It has developed partnerships with local public and private agencies to deliver effective services. It is a project of Housing Authority's new nonprofit affiliate corporation - Central New York Community Solutions, Inc. (CNYCS). CNYCS was formed to help the housing authority to diversify its funding base and reduce its reliance on government funding programs.