SOUTH END

ALBANY – When you are living on a fixed income, maintaining a home can be a daunting task.

Layer on the challenges of maintaining an older home in a neighborhood where property values remain stagnant – even after dumping thousands of dollars into renovations  – and one can get a recipe ripe for deteriorating, vacant housing.

“This is where the red ‘X’ buildings start, and if we don’t nip them in the bud then they just spread,” said Cynthia Herbach, executive director of the South End Improvement Corp. “What we’re doing with that is stabilizing the neighborhood. Our programs are all geared to homeowners and neighborhood stabilization so that we can keep buildings from becoming substandard and provide safe and healthy, affordable homes for people who already live here.”