Improving the quality and expanding the quantity of Genesee County’s residential offerings is a goal the Genesee County Economic Development Center (GCEDC) and partner entities are actively addressing.

One example is with the Batavia Home Fund (BHF), a partnership between the GCEDC and the Town and City of Batavia. This initiative offers grants for investments to rehabilitate vacant and blighted buildings, convert rental properties into single-family homes, and significant improvements to the exteriors of homes.

For exterior rehabilitations of owner-occupied single-family home, the BHF can provide up to $10,000 in matching funds. For conversion of a multi-family home into an owner-occupied single-family home, up to $20,000 is available.

Batavia Home Fund grants have supported three exterior rehabilitations of owner-occupied single-family homes since 2023.

On Montclair Avenue, a homeowner used the BHF to complete a new roof. On Kingsbury Avenue, the siding of a newly purchased home was replaced with BHF support. On North Park, the BHF enabled a homeowner to replace three windows and siding of both the house and garage.

These projects demonstrate the beneficial uses the BHF supports, and the opportunity for homeowners to use the BHF as a tool in making much-needed improvements.

The good news is that funding is still available, and that additional grant funding is projected to continue to grow over the next 20 years.

More than $75,000 of grant funds are still available from an initial funding allotment by the Genesee Gateway Local Development Corporation (GGLDC), a GCEDC affiliate. An additional $50,000 in annual funding will be contributed under our partnership from the MedTech Landing market-rate housing development on Assemblyman R. Stephen Hawley Drive.

Interested in how the Batavia Home Fund can assist a project in your neighborhood? Visit www.gcedc.com/bataviahomefund to learn more.

- GCEDC President & CEO Mark Masse, Town of Batavia Supervisor Greg Post, and City of Batavia Manager Rachael Tabelski