'Zombie Homes' Be Gone: Southampton Town Receives Grant To Address Abandoned Homes

SOUTHAMPTON, NY — Southampton Town is just saying "no" to zombie houses.

The town is poised to receive a $175,000 New York State grant to help address "zombie homes," vacant and abandoned properties; the grant will be funded by Local Initiatives Support Corporation through the New York State Housing Stabilization Fund, a release from Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman said.

Southampton is one of 16 communities on Long Island that will receive $3.3 million in state grants to help reduce the number of Zombie homes on Long Island, a release said.

The funds, Schneiderman said, will be used to establish a proactive, sustainable program for prevention and remediation of “zombie”, or vacant, blighted and abandoned properties, through a number of initiatives, including creating a database of zombie properties.

That database will be compiled after review of existing information services and inspecting properties; information garnered will be shared with governmental and nonprofit partners for the purpose of returning the properties to productive use.

In addition, community outreach will commence aimed at connecting property owners with foreclosure prevention programs such as NYS-HOPP and NYS-MAP.

Funding will also be used to train Southampton officials to explore strategies, tools and best practices for addressing vacant and abandoned properties

Finally, the town is looking to add a part-time code enforcement staff member to focus on property maintenance issues

“We want to get to the root of the problem and prevent 'zombie' homes from popping up in our neighborhoods," Schneiderman said. “We believe we can stop it before it happens by identifying potential properties before they are either abandoned or go into foreclosure. We want to help people stay in their homes and connect them to services that will do just that."