Suffolk Closeup: Affordable housing on the agenda

With the average price of a house in Suffolk now at $525,000 — and the median price on Shelter Island and the Hamptons at $1.4 million — the affordable housing situation in the county has become yet more of a predicament for so many people.

“The need for affordable housing has reached crisis proportions,” the county government’s affordable housing website declares.

What is being done, and what has been done, to deal with this crisis?

A program that would help the East End is the Peconic Bay Region Community Housing Act, which for a second time has passed the New York State Legislature and is heading to Gov. Kathy Hochul for her consideration. In 2019, her predecessor, Andrew Cuomo, vetoed the measure. If she signs it, it would go to the voters in the five East End towns for their approval.

The legislation would provide for a half-percent tax on real estate transfers and “give the towns of the Peconic Bay region the authority and resources needed to establish a dedicated fund to provide needed housing opportunities,” says a legislative memorandum attached to the bill.

Meanwhile, a relatively new affordable housing program, the Long Island Partnership Community Land Trust, has been moving along, acquiring land for affordable housing in western and central Suffolk. It has applicability for the East End.

The Community Land Trust is an initiative begun in 2018 by the Long Island Housing Partnership. The Partnership says in its mission statement that its aim is to “provide affordable housing opportunities to those who, through the ordinary, unaided operation of the marketplace, would be unable to secure, or remain in, a decent and safe home.”

The Community Land Trust, a nonprofit corporation set up by the Housing Partnership, “acquires multiple parcels of land throughout a geographic area with the intention of retaining ownership of these parcels forever. The new homeowner owns the home on a parcel and the land remains in the Community Land Trust, thereby making the home more affordable,” says literature on the program. The Trust “retains” the land “for the community and never sells it” and “provides a very long-term lease of land, typically 99 years, for the exclusive use by individual homeowners.”

Peter J. Elkowitz, Jr., president and CEO of the Housing Partnership, said property for this initiative has already been acquired in Smithtown, in Patchogue and Bellport in Brookhaven Town, in Melville in Huntington Town, and in Babylon Town.

The program “makes homeownership possible for many through this innovative program that offers homes that have a lower cost since the land is not added to the purchase price.”

As part of the arrangement, “legal restrictions” are put in place, said Mr. Elkowitz, to prevent the owner of a house on Land Trust property from “flipping it” for profit. The land, he said, must remain in the affordable housing “pipeline.”

The Housing Partnership calls the program “a new model of homeownership” which will produce “permanently affordable homes.”

The Peconic Bay Region Community Housing Act was sponsored by State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. (I-Sag Harbor) and State Senator Anthony Palumbo (R-New Suffolk). The districts of both men include Shelter Island.

It would levy an additional half-percent to the two-percent real estate transfer tax currently existing on the East End through the Peconic Bay Community Preservation Fund. This tax, which began in 1999 after state approval and then support in referenda in the five East End towns, has raised more than $1.7 billion since. Proceeds are used to save farmland and open space, maintain water quality and for historic preservation.

Under the title “Justification,” the “Memorandum in Support of the Legislation” for the Peconic Bay Region Community Housing Act, states that on the East End, “The adverse impact resulting from the lack of housing opportunities is severe … Traffic congestion is intensified by the importation of labor from areas with lower housing costs” and “the lack of housing opportunities is resulting in residents being forced to live in substandard, illegal conditions. The unique demographics and economics in the Peconic Bay region and a lack of affordable dwelling units are contributing to this housing shortage.”

Further, “The pandemic has resulted in a flight of residents from urban areas such as New York City to more rural areas such as the Peconic Bay region. The demand for housing in the region is currently at an all-time high.”

With the money brought in under the program, says the body of the legislation, “A town may provide financial assistance to a first-time home buyer who is a resident of the town or who is employed in the town.” It could be “in the form of a grant or a loan.”

More next week on the affordable housing crisis.