Learn more about Heart of the City Neighborhoods, a not-for-profit Community Development Corporation that aims to revitalize Buffalo neighborhoods by creating programs to improve the quality of residential housing.
About Us
Heart of the City Neighborhoods, Inc. (HOCN) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that exists to create, facilitate and support housing and neighborhood development in Buffalo’s core communities. This is accomplished by creating programs to improve the quality of residential housing, and by developing sustainable projects to improve Buffalo’s core communities.
HOCN is a designated Neighborhood Preservation Company for the core communities in Buffalo, including the Lower West Side, West Side, Upper West Side, Allentown, Pratt-Willert, Central, MLK Park, Fruit Belt, Elmwood Bryant, and parts of Masten Park, Genesee-Moselle, and Broadway Fillmore communities.
Our Values
- Accessibility to quality, affordable housing
- Working with residents and neighborhood organizations
- Stable, integrated, mixed income neighborhoods
- Healthy communities where individuals and families will have a better quality of life and take pride in their property, their street, and their community.
Our Strategic Priorities
- Increase Community Engagement
- Increase Home Ownership Opportunities
- Increase Access to Affordable Rental Housing
- Increase Access to Quality and Safe Housing
- Advocate Against Substandard and Non-Inclusive Housing Units
- Advocate for Culturally Appropriate and Community Driven Enrichment
Our Background
Since our incorporation in 1998, Heart of the City Neighborhoods (HOCN) has worked together with residents, neighborhood organizations, financial institutions, and real estate professionals to make Buffalo’s core communities a better place to live. Originally incorporated as Revival!..Downtown, an independent non-profit housing corporation formed in collaboration with Buffalo Place, Inc. the managing entity for the City’s downtown pedestrian mall and developer of the Glenny Center International Hostel. Since then, HOCN has undertaken a number of building and planning projects. While our original housing programs worked to increase homeownership opportunities, our most recent programming has made an effort to stabilize traditionally disinvested communities, break generational poverty through our pre-apprenticeship program and advocate for environmental justice issues such as inadequate access to healthy food, inadequate transportation, air and water pollution, and unsafe homes.
Learn more about our success stories over the past 20+ years here.