Carey resigns from housing trust

To the Editor:

I am Thomas Carey, candidate for First Selectman in Goshen. I resigned last Tuesday from the Goshen Housing Trust LLC. After years of trying to provide strategies to establish more moderately priced single family homes, the time is long overdue that I formally resign from GHT.

Since 2010, GHT has not rehabbed and made available one home. What I envisioned is not aligned with GHT’s goals, My hope was to create affordable scattered housing by having GHT renovate existing lowpriced homes for buyers with modest incomes. Our seniors have not and cannot be properly served either.

The Goshen Housing Trust appears focused on Bob Valentine’s reelection with Chris Sanders, president of GHT as his campaign Treasurer and Dawn Wilkes serving as his campaign manager, amongst other support from GHT. There is no reason to offer my support since there has been little to no effort to establish housing consistent with the desires and involvement of the Goshen residents.

The only good news of falling home values is that the market is delivering many affordably priced homes under 200K throughout Goshen without the GHT spending State taxpayer funds or adding any tax burden for infrastructure to our current residents.

We need a real initiative to create senior housing controlled by our town, not the state, to assure we are serving our seniors who have been longtime taxpayers and contributors to our community.” He also noted that a recent zoning change has increased opportunities for single dwelling apartments in accessory buildings on residential properties with no acreage restrictions. This should increase rental opportunities for younger adults, and seniors. Thomas Carey, Goshen