The Southern Tier 8 region is missing the housing it needs to attract workers and grow. To get more of the right projects underway in the right places, the region needs a coordinated framework of resources and financing.
We need to hear from more employers to help shape the framework. Copy the employer survey link and share it with employers in your community!
The problem
Too few homes are being built, and the region's older housing doesn't match what young workers, families and seniors need.
Chapter 1: The challenge
The fix
A regional fund that blends public, private and philanthropic money, connects projects to it, and covers only what nobody else will.
Chapter 2: The framework
What we need from you
Nominate partners, bring projects and sites, and pledge your organization's support.
Chapter 3: Partners
What comes next
The framework design finishes in 2026. In 2027 the region gathers partners, raises capital and funds its first projects.
Chapter 4: Roadmap
Costs, an aging population and a broken value chain keep the region from building the homes its workers need.
Who is entering and leaving the workforce?
Share of the Southern Tier 8 region's population
Census PEP to 2024; CommunityScale forecastDashboard
High costs, labor shortages, infrastructure constraints and a fragmented value chain have made new development very difficult in the region's urban, suburban and rural communities alike.
Demographic and economic trends
Affordability pressures
Housing stock misalignment
A project passes through seven stages to become an occupied home, and it can stall at any of them. Because the constraints sit at several stages, a single new loan product is unlikely to restart production. The money to fix this mostly exists already. It sits in local banks, in state programs, in what employers spend to recruit, in foundations, and in what older owners have tied up in their houses. It does not reach projects here, and it is nobody's job to go get it.
Finding a site
Few sites are ready.
Site control
Sponsors pay for design and permits for months.
Utilities and approvals
Water and sewer often cost more than rents repay.
Financing
Few lenders go from construction to mortgage.
Construction
Too few contractors, and some markets are unserved.
Selling and renting
Appraisals often come in under cost.
Occupancy
Few lenders here lend on a home's repaired value.
A fund that connects projects to money that already exists, and fixes each break in the chain.
The Regional Workforce Housing Investment Framework sets out strategies to blend public, private and philanthropic capital and move forward the projects and programs that meet shared regional priorities. It aligns housing production with what the region's current and future workforce can actually afford.
Instead of relying on the market alone to decide what gets built, the Workforce Housing Investment Fund pools resources from many sources to back the housing types the workforce needs. Strategic investment along the value chain builds confidence in workforce housing and moves the region toward a healthier, self-sustaining market, with capital reinvested locally from inside and outside the region.
The fund does not build homes or compete with the banks and builders already here. It builds tools for the region, connects projects to money that already exists, and covers only what nobody else will.
The same seven stages, with the tool that repairs each break. At every stage the fund also provides technical assistance: getting a stuck project moving, writing applications, and building staff capacity in counties that have none.
Finding a site
Getting projects ready
Model zoning, a design catalog, model pilots, and analysis that checks whether a site will work.
Site control
Predevelopment loans
Early money for buying or holding a site, or covering a state grant until it pays out.
Utilities and approvals
Towns, land and sites
Matching what a town puts in for water and sewer, Pro-Housing certification, a land trust and land banking.
Financing
Backing lenders
A loan loss reserve, partial loan guarantees and a factory offtake guarantee.
Bundling small projects
Several small buildings in one bond deal, rental houses across towns in one tax credit deal, one application a year instead of eight.
Construction
Construction loans
Lending alongside banks, with the long-term lender lined up before work starts.
Selling and renting
Buyers and employers
A down-payment desk, a capped last loan to close the gap, shared-equity second mortgages, housing help tied to a job offer, and deposits from seniors who want to move.
Occupancy
Repair loans
Money to fix up an older house, paid off once the house is worth more.
Together they fund projects and programs at every stage of the value chain.
The ST8 Fund
Local money that starts now.
The ESD Fund
A flexible housing and infrastructure fund.
The fund acts as a market maker. It connects sponsors with lenders and programs, and funds the part of a deal other sources cannot.
Confirm the need
Begin with an identified project, an approved design and documented demand.
Map what exists
Find the lenders and programs that could serve it.
Connect sponsors
Help sponsors reach the financial resources available to them.
Fill what is left
Where other sources fall short, add resources to the capital stack.
Recycle the capital
Loans are repaid, and reserves are released when the risk ends.
Lenders, sponsors, towns and the state each have a part, and every organization can contribute something.
Southern Tier 8
Convenes the region and keeps the shared tools.
Fund committee
Sets policy and the rules for approving projects.
Fund administrator
Underwrites, closes, services and reports, and enables technical assistance.
Lenders and CDFIs
Make and hold the loans the fund backs.
Sponsors
Bring the projects and reach the households.
Counties and IDAs
Refer sites and bring incentive tools in early.
Municipalities
Keep their land-use authority and adopt shared tools voluntarily.
Empire State Development
Aligns complementary state funding.
Consultants and experts
Provide targeted technical assistance.
Funding
Towns and counties, employers and hospitals, colleges, foundations, banks and credit unions, ARC and state grant programs, and Empire State Development.
Resources
Land, leases and sites, housing help tied to a job offer, pledges to back loans, and adopting the shared designs, zoning and tax template.
Time
A seat on the fund committee, staff who can help get the work done, and someone at the county or town to call.
Connections
Introductions to lenders, employers and builders, projects and sites sent our way, and names for the first round of deposits.
We're building a list of organizations that could help launch the fund and its first projects. Nominate your own organization or one you know.
Fund partners
Banks, credit unions, CDFIs, foundations, employers and public agencies that could invest, lend or grant capital.
Project sponsors
Developers, builders, nonprofits, land trusts and municipalities with a project in mind, or the capacity to take one on.
About five minutes. Your name and email stay private to the project team.
Employers know first-hand how housing affects hiring and keeping workers. Your answers help the fund focus on the homes and programs the region's workforce needs, and show where employers could help.
About ten minutes. Your name and email stay private to the project team.
The framework design finishes in 2026. Partners and capital come in during 2027.
In development since early 2026, the framework already has momentum and is approaching implementation. These are the critical path and the next steps along the way.
Phase 1
UnderwayComplete by the end of Q4 2026
Build a foundation of understanding with data analysis and stakeholder engagement, and scope the framework to the gaps that keep housing from getting built.
Phase 2
UpcomingQ1 to Q2 2027
Enlist program collaborators, project sponsors and financial partners to build capacity and coverage across the region. Procure an organization to administer the fund and begin capitalization.
Phase 3
NextStarting Q3 2027
Formally launch the fund, align with ESD's housing and infrastructure fund, and build out the shared regional toolkit. Open a call for projects and begin selecting and funding them.
Municipalities, counties, employers, lenders, nonprofits, developers and residents can pledge support for the framework. Each pledge shows the region's commitment to the fund's partners and funders. You choose whether your support is listed publicly.
The four-page Framework Roadmap, which summarizes the problem, the fund and the steps to the first funded projects, will be posted here.
The Southern Tier is a region where workers can find homes that meet their needs, neighborhoods are renewed and vibrant, and communities have the tools, partnerships and capital to keep growing.
By aligning public and private investment, we're building a stronger economy where stable, attainable housing supports a reliable workforce, attracts new industry and fuels long-term prosperity across the Southern Tier.
We will continue adding reports, maps, data, and other resources as they are completed during the course of the project.
