Applications are now available to live in the affordable housing units coming to the Village of Cayuga.
Applications for the Wheat Street Apartments will be accepted now through September 16 with a lottery selecting an order for applicants to go through the review process taking place on September 30.
The former Cayuga Elementary School is being transformed into 31 apartments with an additional 16 townhouses being constructed in three buildings.
Ithaca Neighborhood Services (INHS), which is managing the project, states the townhouses will be the first units available with the first two buildings, containing six townhouses each, expected to be completed in December with the third completed in January.
Application information can be found here while application forms can be downloaded here.
The apartments will be owned by Wheat Street LLC with INHS as the managing member and INHS affiliate Better Housing for Tompkins County acting as property manager. As a partner, the Gavras Center will support those individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities living at the apartments.
According to INHS, 43 units will be reserved for households with incomes up to 50% of the Area Median Income (AMI). Four units are reserved for households with incomes up to 70% AMI. The project team adds it’s committed to housing nine individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities at the apartment complex.
The apartments could potentially add 140 residents to a village with a population of only 472, according to the 2020 US Census. The potential strain on emergency and other services this addition could have on Cayuga was a point of contention at a public meeting held by INHS in April.
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