“We would simply state that no amount of rationalization should be applied to labeling units as affordable when they are likely not,” said Robert A. Leibowitz, principal planner for Ulster County about Kingston’s definitions of affordability.
The push to redefine affordable-housing standards within the language of Kingston’s form-based code continues. The redefinition of ‘workforce housing’ is also up for consideration.
A December 18 public hearing allowed the city alders to hear from city residents.
“I’ve watched friends leave Kingston,” said resident Jacqueline Nash. “Nurses, Nannies. Teachers. Small-business owners who have not been able to stay in this community because they cannot find affordable housing. We’re talking about people who are the backbone of our community. Like police officers and waitresses, they have salaries that start below $60,000 a year …. With these numbers, we’re saying you can serve our community but you cannot afford to live here. We need to ask ourselves, who do we want Kingston to be for? Do we want it to be a place where only the wealthy can thrive or a place where everyone can continue to work live and build their lives?”
Representing the counterpoint, exasperated with the tinkering taking place in the rentals market, Rich Lanzarone, executive director of Hudson Valley Property Owners Association also spoke at the hearing.
“Fifty years of ever-increasing rent regulation in this state, including now Kingston, has been a complete failure and has resulted only in the highest rents anywhere in the world,” Lanzarone said. “All of the regulations — ETPA, good-cause [eviction], inclusionary zoning — all they do is discourage more building. The solution to lowering housing costs, including affordable housing, is more housing.”
Be careful of change
At a November 18 meeting, the city planning board had voted unanimously to follow the recommendations of Bartek Starodaj, Kingston’s director of housing initiatives, who had advised a cautious approach.
“Before any changes are made to the City of Kingston’s affordable housing requirements,” Starodaj had advised, “we must be sure that, based on a synthesis of the existing evidence and a clear demonstration of the efficacy of the proposed changes, such changes will not have unintended consequences for the development of new housing.”
Based on examples from other municipalities, Starodaj believed existing requirements were realistic. Developers were able to provide the required affordable and workforce units and still have a financially feasible project.
New development with seven or more units must now include ten percent affordable housing at 80 percent of the AMI (Area Median Income). Any project over 20 units must include a percentage of workforce housing at 120 percent of the AMI.
Kingston very cost-burdened
Consensus among planning departments are at odds, however.
When Robert A. Leibowitz weighed in with his board’s recommendations during the crafting of the new form-based zoning code in 2022, he had termed these AMI percentages disingenuous. The county advisory opinion recommended that the city base its percentages on data local to the city rather than to the region. The average median income is lower in the city than the county.
“According to the ACS (American Community Survey, in 2022, the median household income in Ulster County was $77,197, contrasted against the City of Kingston’s $62,071,” Leibowitz wrote. “Additionally, the 2022 ACS data showed that owner-occupied households in the City of Kingston had a median income of $90,500, while renter households had a median income of $43,526. Notably, renters are the primary population the City’s inclusionary zoning law serves.”
In the end, it will be the full common council that must weigh in on the bid to redefine the meaning of the words affordable and workforce.
Currently, 57 percent of Kingston renter households are cost-burdened, paying more than a third of their income on housing costs, Eighteen percent of residents live below the federal poverty line, and 23 percent of children in Kingston are living in poverty.
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