The number of Ulster County residents who wake up every day worried they can’t afford housing is painful to contemplate. Over half of renters in Ulster County pay more than 30 percent of their income to their landlords. Twenty-nine percent spend more than half of their monthly income for housing, a condition known to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as “severely cost-burdened.”
County executive Jen Metzger is aware of these statistics provided by the Ulster County Housing Smart Communities Initiative. “There’s no time in my memory,” said Metzger, “that the housing crisis has been so elevated in the public consciousness.”
As a response to these statistics, Metzger has embraced the idea of a $15-million housing action fund to catalyze the development of new affordable and emergency housing projects.
If the county legislature embraces creation of the Ulster County Housing Fund, the first round of funding could be available this fall. The resolution would allocate three million dollars for the remainder of this year.
Metzger launched the basic idea in her state-of-the-county address to the legislature in January. She and senior county planner Kai Lord-Farmer presented a more detailed vision to a county legislative committee meeting on May 18.
Many communities have turned to the land-bank model. Fifteen New York counties, five regional areas and six cities, Kingston and Newburgh among them, have adopted it. There are plans for the county to partner with the City of Kingston’s existing land bank.
“Dutchess County and the City of Poughkeepsie just started a joint land bank,” noted Lord-Farmer. “So it’s a model that’s out there. Ulster County has a lot of properties that are in tax foreclosure, and it would be great to use them to increase affordable housing supply. We’re not taking power away from the City of Kingston.”
Kingston mayor Steve Noble agrees.
“As the Kingston city land bank is chartered in New York State to serve the residents of the City of Kingston,” explained Noble, “I am not worried about any negative effects a county land bank would have, as our core mission will remain the same even if a partnership between the county and the Kingston city land bank was created.”
A self-renewing fund
Metzger is proposing the $15-million fund will be taken from the county’s unassigned fund balance. The fund would be self-renewing, with future infusions earmarked from a quarter of the revenue of the county hotel occupancy tax, currently two percent.
Metzger favors doubling it to four percent. “At the state level,” said Metzger, “assemblymember Shrestha and senator Hinchey have introduced home-rule resolutions to increase the occupancy tax, and I have been strongly advocating for that to move forward. This is a home-rule request. We want it at the county government. We’ve asked for it. We need it.”
She anticipates grants to municipalities, industrial development agencies, private businesses and philanthropy.
A seven-member housing policy and oversight committee, four members appointed by the legislature and three by the county executive, is proposed. No members of the current staff of the county executive or current county legislators would be appointed.
The committee’s job will be to evaluate and rate applications, report to the legislature and executive’s office on the commitment and distribution of funds, and communicate the application review process. “The committee’s going to have some work to do in refining policy guidance,” said Metzger.
The allocations released will not exceed 30 per cent of the total fund annually.
“We anticipate a review process of a few months for the applications,” says Metzger. “But they won’t actually see the funds until they get all their permits for construction and are ready to build.”
The experience of other communities has been kept in mind. “That’s where the ‘no soft costs’ provision came from,” said Metzger. “All of this money was being put into pre-development costs for projects that never got off the ground.”
An issue of prioritization
Scoring criteria will weigh site selection, water conservation, materials and resources, long-term affordability and accessibility, social equity, community engagement and innovation, and demonstration of best practices.
A maximum of $500,000 per project will be made available for construction of new housing units or to rehabilitate existing rental housing for households earning 60 per cent of area median income [AMI] or below, with a maximum of $50,000 awarded for each affordable unit created.
Smaller amounts will be available for the creation of rental units for households earning more.
The same incentive structure exists for owner-occupied projects, while incentives will differ for non-traditional housing, emergency and supportive housing projects. Funding will also be available for public infrastructure that directly supports the development of affordable and workforce housing.
Metzger recognizes that not every legislator will embrace the plan. “People have different ideas about how to spend the fund balance,” said Metzger. “It’s an issue of prioritization.”
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