Town Board gets figures on need for affordale housing

Town Board members have been told that affordable housing is needed by 54 households in the town, while there are even more renters in units that create a financial burden for families.

At a meeting Tuesday, Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress Vice President Joseph Czajka provided the information as part of town efforts to justify adopting an affordable housing law.

“You’re looking at 430 renters that are cost-burdened,” he said. “Two hundred and forty-five of those are severely cost-burdened. That means they pay more than 50 percent of their gross income toward rent.”

Czajka said the figures come from a Dutchess County program that has a waiting list of 1,084 households that are seeking affordable housing based on income.

“That does not necessarily count people who are on the waiting list for affordable housing complexes that have been built here in the village,” Czajka said.

Officials were told that affordable housing concerns have changed in the past nine years, because many households have been burdened by either high medical costs or expensive health insurance.

“Many millennials are ... working two, three (or) four part-time jobs and not anyone of them would give benefits, pensions, anything like that,” Czajka said, “so it all comes out of pocket. So the ugly picture that we’re painting here is there is a drastic need for affordable housing for both renters and homeowners.”

Under the proposed regulations, developers will be required to include affordable housing for 10 percent of a project when seeking approval of 10 or more houses or apartments. Developers could opt out of the requirements by paying a fee of 25 cents per square foot for each unit they seek to exempt.

Fees from developers for exempted units would be used for the town to support projects that include affordable housing.

Among concerns from town officials is finding a developer who would be willing to initiate affordable housing projects. However, Czajka said, a request for proposals could be issued to work with the municipality.

“There’s affordable housing developers out there who do this all the time,” he said. “They’re very good at it. They not only build a high-quality apartment and complex, but they have a really good management as well.”

Efforts to develop affordable housing regulations have been ongoing since 2009, when the town adopted a revised comprehensive plan that included the goal of having market rate properties available when new projects are proposed.