Cascino ignores Army’s order

Another in the continuing series on housing in the area

By DEBORAH E. LANS

GHENT–In July, Pattern for Progress released its annual analysis of rental housing affordability throughout the Hudson Valley. The main takeaway is the “alarming reality” that “working tenants are struggling even more in 2024 as their wages have dipped, and the cost of typical rents increased yet again.” Further, “middle-class households, who traditionally found access to the homeownership market, are now either leaving the region or competing for rental units with low- and moderate-income tenants. In turn, landlords are able to charge higher rents as the market responds to a growing demand from middle-class tenants.” The results are “devastating to average tenants. . . “

In general, “affordable” housing should consume no more than 30% of a household’s income. According to Pattern, the average wage earner in Columbia County needs to work nearly two full-time jobs — 70 hours per week — to afford a two-bedroom rental; in Greene County, the figure is 65 hours. Put another way, without working multiple jobs, local residents either cannot afford to rent or they must devote an excessive part of their income to rent, shortchanging other basic needs like food and healthcare.

Pattern’s report covers the nine counties of Columbia, Dutchess, Greene, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster and Westchester.

Adam Bosch, Pattern’s president, says that Columbia County stands out in the region. While local trends mirror those seen throughout the Hudson Valley, the pace of change in Columbia County is accelerated and the percentage of the population affected is greater.

The weight of unaffordable housing locally and nationwide falls most heavily on renters. Nationally, more than 50% of all renters are “cost-burdened,” meaning that that they must spend more than 30% of their income on housing.

In addition to the widening affordability gap in the rental market, Columbia County has also seen the greatest increase of Hudson Valley counties in median home prices. The New York State Association of Realtors (NYSAR) “Monthly Indicators” report, for example, showed that between May 2023 and May 2024 the median sales price of a home rose 14.6%, from $434,000 to $497,500, in Columbia County, whereas the rise in Greene County was only 1.6% (from $370,000 to $375,000). Statewide, the median increased by 8.3%, to $422,500.

In conversation with The Columbia Paper, Mr. Bosch highlighted several trends that emerge from the report, titled “Out of Reach 2024.” First, while earlier Pattern reports had shown that home ownership has become out of reach for many working Hudson Valley residents, this report underscores just how far the gap between wages and home ownership costs has grown and the downstream effects of that gap on the rental market. Mr. Bosch says that housing is “like a pipeline. If a significant portion of the middle class must stay in rentals because homes are unaffordable, then demand increases and landlords can increase rents and the pipeline that typically moves people from rentals to home ownership clogs. In turn, more people on the lower earnings scale cannot afford rents and, in the worst case, become homeless. The losers include the cooks, receptionists and retail workers who we depend on.”

As the Pattern report demonstrates, the unaffordability trend is harmful to the region. Shockingly, “more working families are relying on public assistance and living in hotels” now, and “many middle-income households are also leaving the region in search of more affordable options elsewhere,” which, in turn, exacerbates the local workforce shortage. Housing unaffordability is also one cause of the “graying” of the local population. According to the American Community Survey, from 2010 to 2022, Columbia County lost 3,019 people aged 25-54 while gaining 5,237 people aged 55 or older, as young families move elsewhere where housing is more affordable.

Moreover, the gap between wages and rentals — which some had believed would narrow post-Pandemic — has in fact increased even more dramatically in the last year. Wages have held essentially stagnant, while rents have increased 10-15%.

Similarly, the gap between the area median income and the income necessary to qualify for a mortgage sufficient to purchase a home at what NYSAR says is the median sales price has widened; in simple terms, that means that homeownership is out of reach for the majority of local residents.

In Columbia County, the typical household has 2.1 people. The area median income for such a family is $85,120, which would qualify that family for a mortgage of $207,124, according to federal standards. But the median sales price of homes in 2023 was $450,000. Assuming a 6% downpayment, in order to afford a home, the family would need a $423,000 mortgage; in other words, that family would fall far short of qualifying for the necessary loan.

Mr. Bosch pinpoints “severe underbuilding” in the regional market as the prime underlying cause of the affordability crisis, and studies show that in particular renter and “starter” home construction rates have been low for some years now. As a result, Mr. Bosch says that housing must be “number one on our civic to-do list.” While communities are increasingly aware of the problem, and “the coalition of the willing” is growing, zoning laws still overwhelmingly drive development to single family homes and there are still too many planning boards that greet development proposals with an attitude of “shut it down, slow it down and cut it in half.”

In contrast, in other regions, there has been a recognition that housing equates to economic activity and is foundational to the health and vibrancy of a community. Mr. Bosch cites two projects outside the Northeast where planning boards asked developers whether they could expand, not contract, already-large projects (one, for 1600-units); “unless we adopt a vibrancy-targeted mindset, we’ll continue to lose population and bleed children,” he says. To do that, the Pattern report urges, “requires a mix of actions across every level of government and civic society.” At the municipal level, zoning needs to be more flexible, “allowing additional types and sizing of housing.”

Mr. Bosch cites Columbia County as an area that has begun to address housing problems and shift attitudes, including with the creation of a county-wide Housing Task Force and the hiring of a professional, Chris Brown, to guide it.

One of the Housing Task Force’s recent successes is the $2 million award it received from the state to institute a “Plus One ADU” program. An ADU is an accessory dwelling unit – an additional, attached or detached residential unit built on a lot that has an existing or proposed, larger residential property — in old-fashioned terms, a “mother-in-law suite.” The ADU can be a converted garage or stand-alone structure but must provide independent living facilities. All of Columbia County’s municipal units except the City of Hudson, the Town of Taghkanic and the Village of Valatie have laws that permit the construction of ADUs.

The county has partnered with RUPCO, a non-profit that manages rental properties and administered a Plus One ADU project in Ulster County, to provide up to $125,000 per household to construct or rehab code-compliant units. To qualify, among other requirements, an applicant’s household pre-tax income from all sources must be less than a set amount — $74,480 for a one-person household and less than $106,400 for a four-person household, for example; they must own and occupy as a primary residence on the property where the ADU will be located (vacation and second homes will not be eligible); and the ADU cannot be used as a short-term rental.

One factor in selecting recipients for ADU grants will be whether the homeowner will choose to rent the ADU only to people at lower-income levels. Other factors will include whether the applicant has identified a contractor, started the zoning approval process, or identified other financing to assist in the project, if necessary.

That ADUs are one tool to address affordable housing needs has been recognized both federally and by the state. This year, the state created a property tax exemption for ADUs. Municipalities can adopt a local law or resolution that exempts from tax the increase in the assessed value of the property attributable to the ADU. For five years the exemption is full (100% of the increment), and for the next five years the exemption percentage decreases, so that in year 11, the property is again fully taxable.

On the federal side, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) revised its policies for determining eligibility for certain federally-insured mortgages. Existing guidelines had permitted the purchase, rehabilitation or refinance of properties that include a single ADU. The new guidelines additionally allow for including in the computation of an applicant’s income, for purposes of determining the applicant’s eligibility for an FHA-insured mortgage, the income the applicant receives from renting out an ADU. In making the change, HUD stated: “ADUs can serve to enhance the generational wealth-building potential of homeownership” and, by generating income, helps borrowers “sustain long-term homeownership.”

On August 8 at 6:30 p.m. RUPCO will host an Information Session about the Plus One ADU program at Columbia-Greene Community College (C-GCC). Information about the program can also be found on RUPCO’s website, www.rupco.org.

The county Housing Task Force has a number of other projects in process, including a program to provide funding for the replacement of substandard mobile and manufactured homes and another to help fund the conversion of vacant buildings to rentals.

C-GCC also has a hand in addressing local housing issues. In addition to its Construction Technology courses to train students in the skills needed for homebuilding in general, it is teaching students to build, and they are turning out completed, “tiny houses” – homes that are under 500 square feet in size.

Andrew Soltano instructs the class, where last year seven students built two tiny homes, which were later auctioned off for roughly $30,000 each. This year, increased interest has led to full enrollment in the course, with 20 students, many of whom receive scholarships. Most of last year’s graduates went on to have summer internships in the construction trades locally and were then offered jobs post-internship.

While tiny homes do not qualify as ADUs, they are an affordable option for individuals and small families, generally costing $45,000-100,000, according to Mr. Soltano. They can be movable and built on trailers or they can sit on a foundation; homes resting on a foundation often can be larger and include a full second floor. (Movable homes cannot exceed 13’6” in height in order to meet highway requirements.)

This year, C-GCC’s tiny homes were 240 square feet: 160’ on the ground floor and another 80’ consisting of an upstairs loft. The homes were all-electric, heated and cooled through heat pumps, with on-demand hot water heaters. They have dimmable LED lighting, metal roofing and wood siding. They include an “apartment” 5’ refrigerator, 2-burner convection cooktop and a convection microwave, dishwasher, butcher block countertops and a ¾ bath.

While schematics for building tiny homes can be purchased, Mr. Soltano designs the homes that C-GCC builds himself. As Mr. Soltano notes, the loft-sleeping area, accessible by stairs, requires an agile tenant. Indeed, the homes are particularly attractive to younger residents both for this reason and because of the modest size. This year, because tiny homes also make sense for some who are older and “downsizing,” Mr. Soltano may design a first floor sleeping area into the C-GCC tiny homes.

Many consider that tiny homes are best suited for construction in clusters where there can be certain shared utilities, like septic, water and electric supply, and the efficient use of land. Current zoning laws are not necessarily hospitable to stand-alone or small communities of tiny homes, because the laws include minimum lot size and other requirements — demonstrating the wisdom of Pattern’s plea that towns update their zoning laws to be sufficiently flexible to allow a wider array of housing types to meet current needs.

To contact reporter Deborah Lans, email deborahlans@icloud.com.