Disrepair, Housing Violations, Foreclosure Threaten Elderly Buffalo Homeowners

In New York, The Buffalo News is reporting a story of elderly area homeowners who are unable to make unaffordable home repairs to maintain their homes and are at risk of losing them. The story of one senior is featured where her home is in such bad shape that the insurance was cancelled. The mortgage company, unable to find an insurance company to underwrite a policy for the home, has commenced a foreclosure action.

According to the article, there are no statistics available on how many local senior citizens have lost their houses because they cannot pay for repairs, but staff members for Buffalo nonprofit groups say the problem is prevalent — and may even be growing.

One staff attorney at the non profit law firm Legal Services for the Elderly, Disabled, or Disadvantaged of Western New York, has just started handling housing violation cases for the organization's clients. She says that her clients come to her terrified.

At Old 1st Ward Community Center, a Buffalo non profit that administers grants for home repairs, it reports that it has a waiting list of more than 90 people — more than half of them senior citizens.

For more, see Cost of upkeep puts older residents at risk of losing homes (Maintenance, loss of insurance put senior citizens at brink of foreclosure).
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