By DAVID LEE
COPAKE–Ancram Affordable Housing Committee held the first of what it hopes will be a series of conventions bringing together the expertise of diverse organizations to talk about the problems of housing in the area. The event was held at the Roe Jan Community Library on Saturday, January 27.
The event was set up to address both rental and housing for purchase, and all of the related issues such as financing, design, construction, community planning and more. All of this discussion was framed in the architecture of a new and urgent awareness of the local environment and ecology.
Presenters included the Roe Jan Housing Committee (Ancram/Copake/Hillsdale), Habitat for Humanity, Heat Smart Capital Region, Guaranteed Rate, Columbia Land Conservancy, Columbia County Housing Task Force, Homegrown National Park, RUPCO and SONYMA (State of New York Mortgage Agency), and Solstice Power. Also represented were the Climate Smart Community Task Force/ Climate Advisory Councils of Ancram, Gallatin and Taghkanic.
Peter Paden, recently retired executive director of the Columbia Land Conservancy, was representing the Homegrown National Park movement as the nation’s best hope for ecological restoration. The basic idea, which comes from the University of Delaware Professor Doug Tallamy, is the notion that if we all set aside half of our lawns and let them return to some native diversity, the country would add 20 million acres to parkland inventory.
Representing Columbia County Habitat for Humanity, Scott Mathias is the director of Community Engagement and Communications. He spoke of Habitat’s new initiative to build houses in parts and truck the pieces to locations for assembly. He announced a Capitol Build Day which will be May 21.
“It will happen on the lawn of the state capitol, and we are going to frame two of our new prototype houses and put them together on the lawn,” he said. “There will be volunteers from around the state coming together to participate in this, and throughout the day legislators will come out and swing the hammer for a while and get some photographs.”
When it’s all done the walls will be separated and put on a flatbed truck and driven to Niverville where a new Habitat parcel has been acquired.
“These are efficient, net-zero ready houses built at a third of the cost. They are designed to be built in 90 days,” Mr. Mathias said.
Housing Development Coordinator Chris Brown stood at the table set up with information from the Columbia County Housing Task Force, created a year ago by the county Board of Supervisors. Mr. Brown touted the county’s approved application to create a land bank, which allows for setting aside abandoned or tax delinquent parcels for future development. He also mentioned the expanding coalition of organizations engaged in confronting housing issues, including the county’s partnership with RUPCO in submitting an application to the New York State Homes and Community Renewal Plus One ADU (accessory dwelling unit) program.