New Paltz town council members spent a good chunk of its September 18 meeting poring over details of a proposed affordable housing law, as well as testimony provided at the public hearing. Focuses included figuring out how to address decisions to convert rental property into condominiums or cooperatives, and whether incorporating energy standards into the law would pit concerns about a warming planet against concerns about homeless humans.
It was the decision by the owners of Zero Place to convert that building to condominiums that has rattled some local lawmakers. Subject to the village affordable housing law, which includes sections on both rental and owned housing units, it was the conversion process itself and the need for the owners to avoid public pronouncements that was most unexpected, as this resulted in one affordable unit being left vacant for months while there are over a hundred individuals eligible to move in. The conversion also led some residents to realize for the first time that an affordable unit might have to be purchased, rather than rented. For the town law, one idea that was raised was to require owners to hold onto affordable units in order to allow them to be rented by current residents, rather than including them in the new structure.
The town law only lays out issues pertaining to condos, and Randall Leverette warned that if coops are not even mentioned, that a coop conversion could become a loophole to avoid its requirements altogether.
Leverette also expressed a number of misgivings, including the implications of a point system that could result in someone moving to the top of the list for reasons other than economic need. More broadly, Leverette isn’t fond of what was characterized as a “patchwork approach” to affordable housing. The council member’s reasoning was that there’s limited land on which to build anything at all, and if it’s all filled with structures that have a handful of affordable units each then there might end up being far less of this housing available overall. “If this is important, then it needs to be done without being captive to developers,” Leverette said. If all available land is built upon, “that’s it for New Paltz,” with “no big affordable housing project.” A serious commitment to resolving this issue would probably mean securing a bond to buy land, Leverette said.
Others on the council didn’t dismiss that idea, but did appear to gloss over the concern that the proposed law would eventually make any other strategy all but impossible to execute. Esi Lewis expressed a need to use all possible approaches, with this one being the easiest to achieve in the short run. Council members did discuss whether the proposed requirements — 15% of units, or 20% if 20 or more units are being built — was high enough, and whether a higher threshold would risk developers turning away from the community and building elsewhere.
Leverette also pushed back against testimony during the hearing that requested requirements to ensure that state energy-efficiency requirements are addressed. Joe Londa recommended certain types of heating and cooling systems for air and water, but Leverette noted that as these are more expensive, they might undermine the goal of affordability.
A final issue Leverette raised was the need to include detailed input from those who would be overseeing implementation of this law, including planning board members and building inspectors, to minimize the risk of unintended consequences.
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