Help For Syracuse Housing

About a dozen Syracuse University students slept outside last night in the rain and lightning during the second annual Shack-A-Thon. Participants slept in huts that will later be donated to families as playhouses and raised 12 thousand dollars for Habitat For Humanity to build a new home on Elliott Street.

“It made me think about how people do that every night and we still were able to find cover when we were worried about getting struck by lightning, said Karan Elson, a Shack-A-Thon participant. “But some people don’t even have that.”

And while the students will only spend one more night on the Quad, organizations like Home Headquarters work year round on the Syracuse housing problem. With 13-hundred vacant properties around the city, many families are living in unsafe, rented apartments.

“We had one customer here that had an apartment she was renting,” said Karen Schroder of Home Headquarters. “Her son had to pack a bag every day before he left for school of his favorite toys because otherwise they might not be there when he gets back. Someone would break into their apartment almost every day,” she said.

Home Headquarters has been buying up these abandoned properties and rebuilding them to be sold to families who normally couldn’t afford a house. Empty homes can be found all over the city, but for now, a major focus is on Syracuse’s West Side.