Low- and middle-income Broome County homeowners who live within a floodplain can now apply for up to $50,000 in low-interest loans to prepare for potential damage.
Applicants must live in a home within the 500-year floodplain and be income eligible. For a household of four, that means making under $92,000 a year.
There is a total of $9 million in funding to tap into. The program, called the Broome County NYS Resilient Retrofits Loan Fund, comes from New York state and Home Headquarters, a nonprofit housing organization based in Syracuse.
“Protecting your home from flooding shouldn't be one of those things you have to put off because you just don't have the money,” said Broome County Executive Jason Garnar.
Renovations must include at least one flood-mitigation project. That could mean installing a sump pump to drain water out of basements, flood vents to prevent structural damage, or backflow valves to prevent sewage from overflowing into homes.
“We're seeing, across our world, more intense storms as it relates to rainfall in areas like Binghamton that may not have seen them in the past due to climate change,” Binghamton Mayor Jared Kraham said. “So, we have to be prepared, we have to be resilient.”
As long as there’s a flood mitigation component involved, homeowners can also use the loan on renovations that save energy, such as replacing windows or old, energy-costly appliances. The loans are at a 1% interest rate over five to 10 years.