A literal Drive for Fair Priced Housing that hopes to shine a light on what it calls the ‘Hudson Valley’s housing crisis,’ will take place at 2 p.m. Sunday, October 24 starting at the Woodstock Community Center parking lot on Rock City Road. Cars will carry signs made on site that seek to highlight the problems of what are called ‘insane rent hikes, the Catskills being sold out to the highest bidder’ and will drive to and through Saugerties, Kingston and back to Woodstock for a standing protest on the Village Green.
Annalee Orsulich, whose family has lived in Woodstock and Saugerties for four generations, organized the event, which she says is hosted by Catskills Reclaimed/ the Orsulich family as an event for locals, by locals.
“I am incensed by what is going on with the local housing market,” she wrote in a note to Hudson Valley One. “While recently searching for an apartment for a friend, I was shocked to see that four bedroom Woodstock rentals were listed back to back for $16,000 and $15,500 PER MONTH! For years now, I have witnessed friends being evicted in droves and rents raised as much as $500 in one month. The situation has become unbearable since the post COVID local land grab. Our entire community is threatened as lifelong community members can no longer afford to live here.”
She says “I’m asking that everyone carry signs on their car and leave them on for one week, so that the valley is flooded with our messages. My mission is to raise public awareness, unify locals and shine a light on the housing plight in hopes of influencing lawmakers enacting change.”
The Drive is open to “anyone who supports fair priced and sustainable housing in the Hudson Valley.
Join the family! 
