Town approves housing funds at heated meeting

WOODSTOCK, N.Y. >> Heated and angry discussion accompanied a split Town Board approval to spend $175,000 for affordable housing loans and $199,000 for engineering fees for potential affordable housing projects on town-owned properties.

During a meeting Tuesday, Councilman Bennet Ratcliff said the vote amounted to facilitating “self-dealing” by Woodstock Housing Alliance members he contends will benefit by both helping to draft affordable loan guidelines while potentially also being recipients of the loans for the projects.

“I am…for a community land trust and I am for and have been a Woodstock Housing Alliance supporter, but I believe this is self-dealing that (some) members…actually wrote the proposed code changes and they are now going to benefit from the $175,000,” he said.

“I believe the Woodstock Housing Alliance needs to restructure itself in order to receive these funds,” Ratcliff said. “While the Woodstock Housing Alliance became an entity in 2021, members of the Woodstock Housing Alliance continued to write the Housing Oversight Task Force proposed codes (that) they are going to be taking advantage of.”

Ratcliff and Councilwoman Maria-Elena Conte were in opposition to the funding, while Supervisor Bill McKenna, Councilwoman Laura Ricci and Councilman Reginald Earls were in favor.

The Woodstock Housing Alliance was formed as a not-for-profit land trust set to identify potential properties to resolve a shortage of residential housing for people priced out of the housing market.

Ratcliff also contends that Kirk Ritchey and Jeff Collins, who are members of both the land trust and task force, are standing to benefit from being involved in drafting the law while overseeing land acquisitions.

However, immediately following the session, Ritchey and Collins said they were not receiving any money personally and their involvement comes from being personally troubled by a housing shortage that has hurt town residents.

“(Ratcliff) is incorrect,” Collins said. “We’re not relying on any code changes for this to be effective for our housing alliance. The existing code allows a single (accessory dwelling unit) per residence in Woodstock. That’s the code we need, that’s the code that’s going to be there that we’re going to use.”

Ritchey noted that the $175,000, which is coming from federal American Rescue Plan Act funds, will be used to help any residential property owner make upgrades involving affordable rental units or create homesharing opportunities.

“We didn’t write new code for this to happen,” he said.

McKenna was among several people who were upset that Ratcliff had made comments about the potential for having the money benefit individuals.

“These two individuals or the committee (are) never going to touch the money,” he said. “So to accuse them of even the suggestion that they are profiting is disgusting. … The Town Board is going to oversee all the funds.”