By DEBORAH E. LANS
GHENT–February brought another report about the housing crisis in the state, this time from State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli, amid continuing efforts locally to mitigate the problem.
The 38-page study, “New Yorkers in Need: The Housing Insecurity Crisis,” found that in 2022 “there were approximately 3 million New York households living in housing insecurity – the absence of or limited or uncertain availability of safe, stable, adequate and affordable housing.” The report details that 2.9 million New York households were paying 30% or more of their income for housing – a figure that represents a staggering 38.9% of all households; moreover, some 20% of all New York households pay more than 50% of their income just to meet their housing needs. Renters fare worse than homeowners. More than half of all renters pay more than 30% of their income for housing.
Those figures rank New York as one of the states with the highest cost burdens for home owners (3rd in 2022) and renters (13th). Housing insecurity among New York seniors also exceeds the national average; 43% of New York households with a person age 75 or older and 37% of those with a person aged 62 to 74 face housing insecurity – in each instance about 10% more than the national average.
While renters far exceed home owners in suffering the burdens of housing, for all types of housing the gap between income and housing costs is the core of the problem, as depicted by Visual Capitalist (see chart).
This paper has reported the scope of the problem locally in a series of articles in 2022 and 2023. In brief, relative wage stagnation, on the one hand, and dramatic increases in rental and purchase costs, on the other, have made housing unaffordable for many in Columbia County. The average annual wage of county residents falls substantially below that needed to rent a one or two bedroom unit, as rents have increased well upwards of 25% in recent years, and the median price of housing has nearly doubled. The lack of local affordable housing is a primary reason for the out-migration of population, especially younger adults, that the county suffers. That out-migration, in turn, exacerbates the unavailability of workers to fill important jobs in healthcare, education, retail and other areas.
The DiNapoli report notes that state funding for housing currently is focused on two primary areas – the development and preservation of affordable multi-family housing and the creation and preservation of supportive housing that provides both a home and supportive services.
The report highlights that the “greatest and most important role played by local governments is through the governance of land use through zoning regulations or ordinances that designate permissible uses of space, including which types of housing may be created.”
In Columbia County that translates to zoning that is oriented to single-family homes, usually with minimum lot sizes – an approach that, over time, leads to the creation of rural sprawl and limits the financial viability of building affordable housing.
Happily, many of the county’s towns have recently updated or are currently updating their comprehensive plans, the high-level plans that describe the locality’s vision for the future, especially around land use issues, and the zoning laws that serve to implement that vision. In doing so, greater attention is going to lowering the hurdles to the construction of small multi-unit structures and accessory dwelling units (secondary structures on a property that may be used for housing), with an eye to encouraging construction that is both compatible with local character and affordable.
New Lebanon received particular recognition for its efforts when it was designated one of first 20 Pro-Housing Communities by the state recently. The designation is a requisite to receiving certain forms of state assistance and recognizes steps taken to encourage housing growth, such as by loosening restrictive zoning.
Even with the local zoning law changes the county is seeing, though, the greatest challenge for Habitat for Humanity is finding sites for the construction of affordable homes, according to Al Bellenchia, CEO of Columbia County Habitat (which recently added Greene County to its purview). While Habitat is in conversation with a number of towns in an effort to identify potential spots for new homes, securing the real estate for its projects is Habitat’s highest hurdle.
Habitat recently announced the design of energy efficient, panelized homes that it would like to erect clustered four-to-a-site on half acre lots – clusters that would be easily absorbed into rural communities.
The homes would be, Mr. Bellenchia said, “average wage housing for those who are currently shut out of the market.” The units are designed to be built in 90-120 days, far faster and less expensively than “stick built homes,” and to be single-story and highly energy efficient. Because they would be built in fours, the homes would qualify for state funding grants of $150,000-200,000/unit, which would enable Habitat to expand significantly the number of homes it builds annually.
The homes will use no toxic materials, ensuring healthy interior air quality. Local hemlock is specified for shiplap siding and flooring, cedar for decking, natural quarry tiling for bathrooms, with corrugated metal for roofing. All appliances will be electric with air-source heat pump heating. Electricity use is projected to be about 1/3 that of the typical comparable home in the area.
One of these homes will be framed on the grounds of the State Capital in Albany on May 21 by Habitat volunteers.
Meanwhile, the county’s Housing Task Force is addressing local needs on a number of fronts. Chris Brown, the coordinator for the Task Force, has told The Columbia Paper that the county expects to learn this month whether it will receive a grant to work with Rupco, an area developer of affordable housing, to construct accessory dwelling units (ADUs) in the county.
An ADU can be built on an existing home site, which removes the obstacle of finding land for the construction. Eighteen of the county’s 23 municipalities (although not Hudson) allow for ADUs to be built, ordinarily with relatively few regulatory hurdles. Occupants will be income-qualified, with renters earning not more than 80% of the Area Median Income. The units will not be usable for short term rentals for 10 years after construction, to ensure they in fact address the county’s housing needs.
The county’s land bank has been approved by the state and is completing the process of formation. A land bank is a not-for-profit entity that specializes in the transformation of vacant, abandoned and foreclosed property into productive use. The land bank expects to work together with a community land trust (CLT) that is being formed currently through the efforts of Mr. Brown, Michelle Tullo, the Housing Justice Coordinator for Hudson, and Marissa Codey of the Columbia Land Conservancy.
The CLT would acquire land (for example, from a land bank), a homeowner would build on the land, but the land would remain owned by the CLT. The CLT would lease the land to the owner for a long term (often 99 years). Home ownership would be less expensive because there would be no land acquisition costs for the homeowner. The owner would agree that when they sell the home they would do so at a restricted price, assuring that the home would be affordable in perpetuity. Generally, the home owner would share in some of the equity appreciation as well.
Of course, all of these efforts are long-term solutions. In the present, the county continues to suffer the negative side effects of its positive real estate market.
