We shake our heads at Bennet Ratcliff’s apparently willful ignorance of what goes on in our town. As members of the town’s housing committee, we have worked diligently to understand the landscape and the complexities of affordable housing. It is, arguably, the most pressing issue facing our town, region and nation. However, Ratcliff is the one town board member who has never offered his ideas or his questions to us, nor to the Housing Oversight Task Force (HOTF) regarding zoning revisions. He has cancelled appointments at the last minute and promised questions via email which have never materialized.
Yes, as Ratcliff asserts in his recent campaign email, the town should lead on housing issues.
The town is currently leading on housing issues. Our supervisor has been consistent in his support for our housing efforts. He is a champion for affordable housing. All of our town board members have contributed in some substantial way to addressing housing issues, except for Ratcliff. Our committee has been and continues to work with the support of the Ulster County Planning Department (which is in turn supported by the regional group Pattern for Progress) on the following initiatives:
• Researching and recommending the near-term housing solution, HomeShare Woodstock.
• Researching and recommending formation of a Community Land Trust (CLT) called, The Woodstock Housing Alliance, which was incorporated last year.
• Promoting and providing research and input for revising our outdated housing zoning code and policies to support its implementation.
• Actively participating in the Ulster County’s Housing Advisory Committee and in developing the Ulster County Housing Smart Communities Initiative (HSCI).
• Becoming the first rural small town to join the County Housing Smart Communities Initiative.
• Updating information on all town-owned lands to focus on best options for building projects.
• Following model communities with strong established housing plans and working with the Ulster County Planning Department to access free technical support to complete our own Woodstock Housing Plan.
• Advocating with the supervisor to state and county offices to enable long-term local funding for Woodstock’s housing needs.
• Successfully advocating for use of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to prepare whichever town-owned land is selected for development and successfully advocating for ARPA funding for two other housing programs which had been developed by our committee (but are implemented by Family of Woodstock and Woodstock Housing Alliance).
• Successfully applying for a Greenway grant to hire a professional land use planner to help guide the Housing Oversight Task Force with housing zoning revisions.
• Creating public education and advocacy events, handouts and newsletters to focus attention and build understanding of housing and zoning.
The housing committee’s response to Bennet Ratcliff’s recent housing comments:
Housing is complicated. Each one of the items above requires a lot of research and discussion to complete our understanding of the options. We are all volunteers on the housing committee, putting in uncountable hours both on these tasks and on communicating what we have learned and what we are doing with the public. We have a regular email newsletter which close to 300 people have signed up to receive (email us to sign up for our newsletter at housing@woodstockny.org). We table at public events. We report our progress to the town board, in public, annually (sometimes more often than that). We have developed informative handouts about housing and hosted a large public meeting about the proposed zoning changes on May 30 this year. We maintain active Woodstock Community Homes Facebook and Instagram pages.
Ratcliff’s assertions are insulting and untruthful. His solutions are flippant and politically motivated. If the current administration is doing it, he is against it. He says Woodstock’s town leaders are doing nothing about housing. This is clearly not true (see all of the above). He proposes building a two-story parking garage in one town parking lot and building some houses in the lot behind Family. Has he thought about who will pay for the garage and how urban it will look? Has he truly considered the type of housing that will fit in the parking lot behind Family of Woodstock? Building a multi-story apartment building is most likely NOT the best solution to fit in with the character and scale of our hamlet. We should consider all options, but these are neither well thought out, nor have they ever been offered as constructive suggestions to any group actually working on housing.
Ratcliff’s easy dismissal of the zoning proposals is another example of his thoughtless approach to housing solutions. The zoning updates offer crucial environmental safeguards and require affordable housing commitments in many development types. They were developed with a skilled rural land-use consultant (paid for in part with a grant that a housing committee member and the supervisor applied for in 2021, along with the town board’s unanimous approval) and representatives from all the boards and committees involved with housing and zoning in the town. The existing zoning would not control the impacts of projects like Woodstock National. The proposed revisions do much to control size, style, density and affordability, as well as provide environmental protection. Moreover, the housing committee is currently working on companion policies which we will recommend to the town board to incentivize affordables and to ensure training for those who will be charged with implementing the revised code.
Ratcliff uses Hudson, NY as his housing model city. Have you visited Hudson recently? Does it look or feel like Woodstock to you? Let’s start with some facts. Hudson and Woodstock are about the same size in population, but Hudson is a city, an urban environment (and that makes it eligible for some programs Woodstock is not). A little research shows:
• Hudson has 2,731 people per square mile. Woodstock has 93.4 people per square mile.
• While home prices have risen in both, Woodstock does not have the aging low-income housing and big empty factory buildings to target for rehab plans. Hudson does.
• Hudson’s median household income is $40,400. Woodstockers’ median income is $66,000.
• 23.5% of Hudson residents live at poverty levels. Woodstock’s poverty level is 14%.
These economic factors impact eligibility for state and federal funding. Although Ratcliff points to Hudson as a model for our town, in Woodstock we have created similar foundational housing institutions and made similar progress. Here are some examples of what our committee has accomplished that match actions in Hudson:
1. We have a Community Land Trust (CLT) called the Woodstock Housing Alliance.
2. We are writing a housing plan for the town, which requires assistance from the county.
3. We are working on legislation to enable Woodstock to have its own housing fund.
4. We are zeroing in on town-owned properties suitable for housing and encouraging affordables with zoning and policy recommendations.
We are doing this with hard-working volunteers and the full support of three town board members out of five.
This attack on our work is alarming. We’re all informed and dedicated volunteers, both long-time and more recent Woodstockers who have seen and done a lot in our town and in our respective careers. To be clear, this is not a political statement. It is offered to set the record straight.
We urge you to be informed and not swayed by easy-sounding or poorly researched solutions.
Pay attention to the details and sign up for news about housing in Woodstock at housing@woodstockny.org.
Susan Goldman and Katherine Tegen, Co-Chairs
Deborah DeWan
Howard Kagan
Urana Kinlen
Laura Warren
Town of Woodstock Housing Committee
Join the family! 
