Housing Visions announces new board members

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Housing Visions Unlimited, Inc., a local nonprofit involved in developing, building and managing affordable housing, has announced a pair of new members of its board of directors. Nicholas V. Petragnani, Jr. and Thomas C. Buckel, Jr., began three-year terms on the 30-member board in December.

Petragnani is senior vice president and regional director of the Central & Western New York region of CPC (Community Preservation Corp.), a nonprofit mortgage lender that finances residential multifamily development throughout New York state. Petragnani has been with CPC since 2003 and oversees all lending aspects for Central & Western New York, including a total investment of $75 million in downtown Syracuse. He also serves on many community boards.

Buckel is managing attorney for Legal Services of Central New York, Inc., serving clients directly in Oneida, Herkimer, Lewis, and Jefferson counties. Buckel is a former Onondaga County legislator. He currently serves on the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry’s board of trustees and Le Moyne College’s board of regents.

“Each of these individuals will add great expertise and industry knowledge to the Housing Visions’ Board,” Kenyon Craig, president and CEO of Housing Visions, said in a news release.

Housing Visions said its board provides direction, guidance, and oversight to ensure the organization “adheres to its mission to be the catalyst for sustainable positive change in neighborhoods through real estate development and community collaboration.”

The organization started from a community-based effort in 1990 to rehabilitate a “declining neighborhood” on Syracuse’s east side. Since then, Housing Visions has expanded its work to include 11 cities and more than 1,100 units of affordable housing across upstate New York, the news release stated.