CHENANGO COUNTY – Although the flooding of 2006 is two years behind us, people are still struggling to recover from the burden of losing their homes and being forced to find alternative living situations.

Opportunities for Chenango hopes to help ease that burden by providing housing help for flood victims.

More than 1,300 Chenango County residents registered with FEMA after the flooding of June 2006, but according to Opportunities for Chenango’s Quaranta Housing Services CEO Wayne Vierra, OFC has continued receiving calls from people who were affected.

“Some people, I feel, didn’t come forward because of a fear that their homes would be condemned,” Vierra said. “We’ve talked to people who are living on the second floor because the first floor was damaged during the flooding. They’re afraid if they come forward they’ll be hit with code violations.”

Vierra and Karen Glasbergen, executive assistant at OFC, are trying to reach out to those people with their Affordable Housing Services Awareness Campaign. The campaign will include workshops in three locations in Chenango and Broome County. OFC also has nearly $1 million dollars available to assist flood victims in the purchase of a new home.

“One of our major priorities during the month of June is getting this money out to help buy homes,” Vierra said. The program, which is administered as part of the First Time Homebuyer Program at OFC, offers financial assistance to home owners or renters who were displaced as a result of the June 2006 flooding.