On Tuesday, June 4, INHS gathered its staff, community members, business representatives, elected officials, and our donors, clients, and collaborators to celebrate all we’ve accomplished together in the community, and the 2,690 neighbors helped access affordable housing throughout 2023 at La Tourelle in Ithaca. Attendees were also able to connect with new INHS Executive Director Kate de la Garza! 

As Kate addressed the audience and began to share INHS’s impact throughout 2023, they said, “In our slide show today you will see lots of pretty pictures of well-built beautiful buildings. But home is one of the most intimate, vulnerable and stabilizing aspects of our lives. So as you listen to me describe our business lines, and accomplishments last year, please make sure you remember that behind every window or exterior wall you see, is a parent putting a child to bed, or a grandmother in her favorite chair reading, or your local barista, home from their coffeehouse shift working on their favorite new piece of artwork. People are at the heart of all that we do at INHS.”

Below is a recap of the amazing efforts of INHS’s four lines of business in 2023 and INHS award recipients. Click here to view the 2023 INHS Annual Report.

Property Management

• Oversee 650 rental units scattered across 75 buildings in 32 locations in Tompkins, Schuyler, and Seneca Counties, soon to include Cayuga County.
• Our facilities team is an incredibly hard-working group that functions as two crews. One prepares vacant apartments for the arrival of new residents. The other works to keep occupied properties in tip-top condition through essential maintenance and timely repairs.
• INHS has 247 new rental units in development, with two community projects coming online in late 2024 and early 2025
• In 2023 we helped over 1,080 people with a median income of $12,000 access safe, high-quality rental housing.

Real Estate Development

• Currently, 85 INHS units are certified as LEED Platinum, 93 as LEED Gold, and 77 as LEED Silver. The remaining INHS-developed housing units are built to meet or exceed a variety of other green building certification requirements.
• INHS received the Community Climate Champion Award by the US Green Building Council last year. This award is given to a group that demonstrates exceptional and unique solutions that address carbon neutrality and the climate crisis.
• INHS began construction on is Village Grove in the Village of Trumansburg, which will consist of none market rate lots, ten affordable for-sale townhomes to be sold into INHS’s Community Housing Trust, and 46 rental units in 2023. This $26 million development is INHS’s greenest project to date and, when complete in late 2024, will be one of the first affordable housing developments in upstate New York to attain Passive House certification and utilize ground source heat pumps. The goal is to achieve NetZero and has been named a Phius Design Certified Project.
• 2023 marked the beginning of two renovation projects:
  • A $10 million overhaul of a 46-unit senior housing property in Ovid in Schuyler County, Verona Village. Purchased in 2020 but built in the 1980s, renovations include new siding, roofs, expansion and upgrades of kitchens and remodeling of bathrooms to increase accessibility, and so much more. Completion is scheduled for August 2024.
  • Compass, Manufactured Home Community was purchased by INHS in 2021, and had fallen into disrepair. The $7 million project includes upgrading and adding park-wide infrastructure and amenities. We’re also replacing dilapidated, abandoned units with new homes. Completion is set for later this year. See more below under, “Manufactured Housing.”

Homeownership

• Offered over $625,000 in down-payment and closing-cost assistance loans in 2023, helping 33 households purchase their first home.
• We also help pave the path to homeownership by offering a comprehensive home buyer education program. In 2023, 472 households benefitted from an INHS home buyer education class, and one-on-one counseling.
• In 2023, we provided 123 urgent home repairs and accessibility improvements to over 100 people with a median income of $31,000. These are among the most vulnerable of our neighbors — low-income seniors, and people with disabilities. We installed wheelchair ramps, secured railings, replaced dangerously worn flooring, added functional smoke detectors, and much more.
• 2023 also saw us close over $600,000 in rehab loans. This funding allowed 26 households to undertake major home repairs and renovations beyond the scope of our Minor Repair Program, like new roofs, siding, energy upgrades and foundation work.

Manufactured Housing

• Compass, Manufactured Home Community was purchased by INHS in 2021, and had fallen into disrepair. A $7 million renovation project is currently underway, and project includes upgrading and adding park-wide infrastructure and amenities. We’re also replacing dilapidated, abandoned units with new homes. Completion is set for later this year.
• Manufactured housing provides many in our region and across the country with an affordable path to homeownership — sometimes the only option for homeownership in rural areas. However, this housing sector is rife with opportunity for exploitation. Large investment companies have taken notice, buying parks across the US. The consequences can be dire: neglect of maintenance and services, profit-driven hikes in lot-rent, and in some cases outright closure of parks and eviction of their inhabitants to make way for more lucrative development.
• Compass is one of only two manufactured-home parks in the state owned by a nonprofit. We’re at the forefront of innovating a sustainable model for park ownership that we hope to replicate into the future.

Other Highlights

• As INHS approaches its 50^th anniversary in 2026, our goal is to reflect on the impact the organization has not only had on the community, but the impact the community has had on the organization. Without each other, INHS and the thousands of people we help each year wouldn’t be possible. Join us as over the next two years, as we dive deep into reflection and how we can continue to work together to shape the future of our communities.
• Guests of the event could donate to the No Place Like Home Fund that benefits the Minor Repair Program that makes free health and safety upgrades to homeowners aged 60 and older and those with disabilities so they can safely live independently and age in place. Thank you to those who donated! If you’d like to contribute, you can donate here.

Florence Hoard Community Beautification Award

Named in honor of a revered member of the Ithaca Garden Club who was a symbol of, and voice for, beautification in the City of Ithaca. Noted for her efforts during the City’s centennial celebration, Florence Hoard organized “plant crusades” to get shoots from area gardens into the yards of downtown residents and was a founder of the popular Mother’s Day Plant Exchange, which is held each year at Ithaca High School.

Today we recognize another devoted community member who has brought the beauty of the natural world into the lives of many.

2023 Awardee: Emma Silverblatt, Cornell University
2022 Awardee (honored during 2023 event due to last year’s event cancellation): Caleb Thomas, Ithaca Muralist 

Lucy J. Brown Leadership Award

Named for Lucy Brown who has made significant and lasting contributions to both INHS and the greater Ithaca community through her leadership and service. As one of the founders of INHS, Lucy was instrumental in its long-term growth and its commitment to mission.

Each year INHS awards the Lucy J. Brown Leadership Award to a member or members of our community who, like Lucy, exemplify a similar commitment to community and neighborhood, as a voice and advocate for those who have been typically under-represented, and whose efforts have made a difference in the lives of many.

2023 Awardees: Donna Sherwood and Tina Carlsen, Verona Village

INHS Exemplary Service Award

This award was created in honor of former INHS board member David Sprague, who dedicated three decades of his life to serving on the INHS Board of Directors. His commitment and dedication to INHS is unparalleled.

2023 Awardee: Michael Cannon, retired INHS board member
2022 Awardee: Patricia Paolangeli, INHS finance director

Staff Milestones

While all our staff members are indispensable to our mission of supporting the people in our service area, several of you reached significant milestones in your tenure at INHS. Since we weren’t able to congratulate those celebrating milestones in 2022, due to the wild fire smoke and subsequent cancellation of the event last year, this includes staff celebrating milestones during both 2022 and 2023.

Staff members who reached five years of service are:

• In 2022:
  • Amber Compton and Vinessa Rollins
• In 2023:
  • Justina Fetterly, Jessica Gambino, Jessica Kwiatkowski, Amber Inman, Rose Stutzman

Staff celebrating 10 years of service are:

• In 2022:
  • Louis Gunn
• In 2023:
  • Delia Yarrow

Staff celebrating 15 years of service are:

• In 2023:
  • Mayghen Johnson

In 2022, two staff members celebrated incredibly impressive milestones. Patricia Paolangeli celebrated 25 years of service, and Scott Reynolds celebrated his 30^th year of service!