County’s First-Ever Housing Forum
Last week my Office for Community Development and Human Rights Commission spearheaded the county’s first-ever Housing Forum with major stakeholders including developers, lenders, DSS, and more to strategize how to overcome Rockland’s housing challenges.
The forum, held in April in honor of Fair Housing Month and Community Development Week, had about 250 attendees with 26 panelists consisting of representatives from Department of Social Services (DSS), Housing and Urban Development (HUD), New York State Homes and Community Renewal, and Child Protection Compact (CPC), along with a diverse list of not for profits and housing professionals.
Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress (PFP) conducted the County’s first-ever comprehensive community and affordable housing needs assessment and presented preliminary findings were presented at the forum, painting a grim picture of the challenges surrounding affordability.
The Pattern for Progress keynote highlighted that while Rockland residents demonstrate deep care and compassion for their neighbors, there remains a need to develop strategies, and/or policy changes, that will better suit the housing needs of all, but particularly our most vulnerable residents which include the elderly, children, and the disabled.
I assure our families we are not looking for a license to overdevelop. We are simply taking a thoughtful approach to help municipalities throughout Rockland County figure out the best way to address the multitude of challenges at present.
According to PFP, the average sale price of a single-family home is $683,635 while the median household income is $99,707.
The issue of affordability is being seen across New York State, and is not unique to Rockland, which was the motivating factor behind Governor Kathy Hochul’s housing compact plan which aimed to direct municipalities to increase housing stock by 3%.
New York State is a home-rule state for a reason when it comes to land use and zoning. No one disagrees that more and better housing options are needed. But mandating specific growth targets in a one-size-fits-all formula, dictated by the State, is inappropriate and irresponsible, especially in a County like Rockland where unsafe housing development is a major issue.
We have worked hard for many years, hand in hand with the New York State Department of State, to encourage Smart Growth and we already embrace and promote those concepts, including Complete Streets, mixed-use development, walkable communities, Transit-Oriented development, and downtown and local waterfront revitalization projects. But all growth must be balanced and sustainable which the Governor’s proposed housing mandates would not have been. I applaud our State legislators who held firm on saying NO to the Governor’s housing growth mandates and glad to hear she is backing off.
I reaffirm that my administration is aware there is an issue with housing and underscore the goal of our forum was to bring the major stakeholders and municipal leaders into one room to see how surrounding areas are tackling these problems and get them to start thinking about new and unique solutions that’s right for their communities.
Although land use decisions are on the local level, the County is in full support of responsible development that will address housing needs and this forum is the first step towards achieving that.
We anticipate our Housing Needs Assessment to be finished this summer, at which we will release the full report to the public.
I firmly believe safe and affordable housing is a human right; one that should not be limited to those at the highest income brackets, and I pledge to do all I can to help, not just my administration but, all municipalities conquer this hurdle once and for all.
