About
Who we are, where we work, and how we think.
What we are
ROC Affordable Housing Corporation builds rural housing for Southern Erie County and surrounding rural Western New York. We are a separately incorporated 501(c)(3) and the housing arm of The Rural Outreach Center, an East Aurora-based nonprofit working on rural poverty in Southern Western New York since 2013.
We were formed in 2023 to help close the rural housing gap across Southern Erie County — building and preserving homes in the region's villages, hamlets, and rural communities. Rural areas have been overlooked by most housing development: high construction costs, smaller project sizes, and thin developer capacity have left a real shortage. We exist to change that. The surrounding counties — Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, Allegany, and Wyoming — are future priority areas where partnerships and capacity align.
We have held two properties in the Village of North Collins since 2023 — a corner lot at 10483 Main Street, our first development, and the Masonic Lodge at 10489 Main Street. We are running a community listening campaign about the Lodge's future before we design.
Enduring Principles
Four things we believe and try to practice.
Rural is the work.
Most housing development happens in cities and suburbs. We build for Southern Erie County's villages, hamlets, and rural communities — places the housing system usually overlooks. Choosing to work where others won't is the decision.
We meet communities where they are.
New construction, adaptive reuse, rehabilitation, and acquiring existing homes to keep them affordable — we shape the approach to the place and the need, not the other way around. The goal is more good housing, however it gets there.
Listening is part of the build.
We meet residents and neighbors where they are. We bring options shaped by what we hear, not announcements. The way we move into a community is part of what we owe it.
Affordable means people who already live here can afford to stay.
We design for the school bus driver, the diner waitress, the nursing aide, the teacher — workforce households earning at or below half of area median income. That is who we serve.
How we sit in the ROC family
The Rural Outreach Center is our parent.
The Rural Outreach Center has worked in rural Southern Erie County since 2013. The ROC's mission is to break the cycle of rural poverty by accompanying people towards self-sufficiency. Three words shape that work: assist, empower, elevate.
RAHC is separately incorporated and separately governed. The two organizations share a service area, a values commitment, and an operational backbone. RAHC focuses on one piece of the rural poverty equation: stable, affordable, locally-built housing for households who already live and work in our communities.
Our board
Construction, finance, law, municipal, and parent-organization expertise, rooted in Western New York.
- Sheret JagordChair · Patriot Growth Insurance Services
- Bradley FisherVice Chair · Buffalo Construction Consultants
- Lisa RessmanTreasurer · Heritage Ministries, CFO
- Timothy LaffertySecretary · JBM Computer Consultants
- Dr. Frank CernyBoard Member · Executive Director Emeritus, The Rural Outreach Center
- Lynda BattagliaBoard Member · Executive Director, The Rural Outreach Center
- George HezelBoard Member · Founder & longtime director, Affordable Housing Clinic at the University at Buffalo School of Law (retired)
- Jeff SellersBoard Member · Buffalo Construction Consultants
- Edwin F. HearyBoard Member · Town of Concord Zoning Board of Appeals, Chair
- Joseph McCannBoard Member · Town of Aurora Council Member
- John HartBoard Member · Hart Financial Group, Principal
Leadership
Vignesh Ramaiah, Executive Director
Vignesh holds a BS in Civil Engineering and an MS in Real Estate Development with an Advanced Certificate in Affordable Housing from the University at Buffalo. He leads project planning, funding strategy, financial modeling, and stakeholder coordination for RAHC's work across Southern Erie County and surrounding rural Western New York.
RAHC's operational backbone — finance, grants administration, communications, and compliance — sits with The Rural Outreach Center's leadership team, including ROC Executive Director Lynda Battaglia, ROC Chief Operating Officer Monique Albee Brannon, and ROC Finance and Grants Manager Nancy Ehlers.
Our five-year plan
Building toward becoming the primary rural housing platform for Southern Erie County.
The plan is organized into three linked tracks: development scale, programmatic credibility, and institutional capacity. We update progress publicly as it happens.
The full strategic plan PDF is available upon request as of launch. Once formally approved for public release, we will link it here.