Stephanie Simeon’s wheelhouse is reasonably priced housing, so when she begins speaking about meals insecurity in Buffalo’s low-income areas, she has typically been met with confused seems and a “keep in your lane” mentality.
Stephanie Simeon, government director of Coronary heart of the Metropolis Neighborhoods, stands for a portrait. Coronary heart of the Metropolis Neighborhoods helps metropolis residents with residence repairs, residence shopping for and high quality housing choices. Simeon additionally helps handle meals insecurity and not too long ago was a panelist on the Meals as Medication Symposium on the College at Buffalo.
However that has modified for the reason that hate-motivated mass capturing on the Jefferson Avenue Tops grocery store that killed 10 Black East Buffalo residents and closed the neighborhood’s solely grocery store for 2 months final yr.
Simeon, government director of Coronary heart of the Metropolis Neighborhoods, mentioned the bloodbath opened individuals’s eyes to the fact that protected, reasonably priced housing and entry to wholesome meals have to be linked as Buffalo strikes to enhance the predominantly Black and low-income space focused by the racist shooter.
“The East Facet of Buffalo represents half of Buffalo, with 100,000 residents,” Simeon mentioned. “Why ought to they’ve one grocery retailer? The Could 14 bloodbath highlighted a number of points and diseases of our society. Inexpensive housing can and will handle challenges for meals insecurity.”
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Coronary heart of the Metropolis Neighborhoods, a Buffalo nonprofit dedicated to reasonably priced housing options, has been engaged on “asset-based improvement” and block-by-block enchancment of metropolis neighborhoods since 2016. Simeon mentioned that method is a should for planners in search of to handle meals insecurity in East Buffalo.
After the bloodbath, Gov. Kathy Hochul introduced $50 million in help for East Buffalo, together with $3 million to renovate a constructing to deal with the African Heritage Meals Co-op in Buffalo’s Fruit Belt neighborhood and $34 million for housing, $10 million of that for East Facet residence repairs.
In her 2023 State of the State handle, Hochul additionally pledged to handle a statewide housing scarcity that she mentioned is partly answerable for greater than half of New York renters and a 3rd of mortgage holders paying greater than 30% of their incomes for housing.
Hochul pledged to construct 800,000 items of latest housing throughout the state and supply localities “substantial new funding for infrastructure like colleges, roads and sewers wanted to help rising communities.”
Simeon mentioned that in locations like East Buffalo, supermarkets, neighborhood gardens and farm market websites additionally must be a part of the infrastructure, as do sidewalks, public transit and reasonably priced well being care.
Simeon famous the streets across the Tops on Jefferson have a excessive focus of vacant heaps, boarded-up homes, damaged or no sidewalks – and poverty, medicine and crime.
“Individuals are a mirrored image of their setting,” Simeon mentioned. “Folks want wholesome housing, protected housing and high quality neighborhoods with facilities like close by transit and meals markets.”
Simeon, who earned her undergraduate diploma and a grasp’s in structure and planning from the College at Buffalo, has led Coronary heart of the Metropolis Neighborhoods since 2007.
For many of a decade it targeted on Buffalo’s decrease West Facet, the place Coronary heart of the Metropolis funneled state, federal and charitable grants to rehabilitate vacant houses and construct multifamily housing to fill within the neighborhood across the Tops on Niagara Road, Simeon mentioned.
“We crammed in vacant heaps so that they didn’t seem like lacking tooth, and labored block by block for a very long time,” she mentioned. “And when the neighborhood began to proper itself, then non-public funding and banks began coming in as nicely.”
Coronary heart of the Metropolis has additionally been closely concerned in serving to owners handle illnesses that plague previous housing inventory, together with lead paint and mud, drafty infrastructure and mould, all of which trigger human illnesses, particularly to youngsters dwelling there.
“We all know that the extra steady housing children have, the upper their academic achievements,” Simeon mentioned.
“Kids who’re lead poisoned and even have low ranges of lead of their blood have a tough time with emotional administration and may change into studying disabled. Kids who’re lacking faculty due to bronchial asthma attributable to drafty housing could also be unable to transcend highschool due to it. Folks with out entry to wholesome meals have decrease life expectations. That is an environmental concern.”
Allison DeHonney, left, moderates a panel with audio system Nebeyou Abebe, Dr. Samina Raja and Stephanie Simeon throughout a Meals as Medication Symposium on the UB Middle of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences.
In recent times, beginning in about 2016, Coronary heart of the Metropolis has been making use of its improvement strategies on the East Facet by way of faith-based organizations “that have already got the belief, love and care of their neighborhood,” she mentioned.
The group has labored with Mt. Aaron Missionary Baptist Church on Genesee Road, Macedonia Missionary Baptist on East North Road, Mt. Olive Baptist on East Delavan Avenue and others to acquire grants to fill in vacant heaps with single-family houses and reasonably priced residences.
It at present has plans to construct two single-family houses on Purdy Road and 7 on Gray Road in addition to helping Mt. Olive and Folks Inc. with a deliberate senior housing complicated within the Delavan-Grider neighborhood, Simeon mentioned.
Coronary heart of the Metropolis plans to get extra concerned in lobbying for extra grocery shops, supermarkets and farm market websites as it really works to “add density” to areas thought of “excessive emptiness” by such companies.
She thinks grocers shall be extra receptive if state and native authorities observe by way of on investing in East Buffalo – together with planting shade timber, fixing sidewalks, including road lights and offering reasonably priced web connectivity.
“I believe persons are lastly listening, however why did it have to attend for a bloodbath to occur for individuals to say, ‘Whoa, it is a drawback?’” Simeon mentioned. “These are all issues we might have performed simply by being good neighbors.”
