Progress on Shelter Island affordable housing option: Money going for accessory dwelling units

Shelter Island is moving toward creating accessory dwelling units, using all of the $2 million in the New York State Plus One grant negotiated for the town by the Community Development Corporation of Long Island (CDCLI).

Accessory dwelling units, or ADUs, allow property owners to either adapt a main house to accommodate a tenant, or develop a housing unit that could be in a separate structure on their property.

Homeowners who opt to take advantage of a grant, have to agree to provide the rental at an affordable rate set by the federal department of Housing and Urban Development. Rentals would be available to those who meet income levels set for Suffolk County. Occupants must be annually certified to ensure they continue to qualify for an affordable rental.

Putting the grant money to work, the town is poised to be the first of state grant recipients to see 16 units completed, or in progress, Community Housing Board (CHB) Chairwoman Elizabeth Hanley told her colleagues at the Dec. 14 meeting.

There are nine projects in progress, with a couple of applicants dropping out when they realized construction plans wouldn’t fit with what they had envisioned, Ms. Hanley said.

In addition to the nine  ADUs in progress, two more are in review and have been financially qualified for grants. Two others are currently “in limbo,” Ms. Hanley said.

Another three are new applicants, which are to be reviewed within a few weeks, she said. If 16 property owners use full $125,000 grants, that would exhaust the money the state has earmarked for the town. Some conversion projects could end up costing less, while others would need more money, which would have to come from property owners themselves, or through loans or other grants.

If there are any projects costing less than a $125,000, the excess grant money could be applied to a future qualifying applicant.

With the success to date, the CDCLI is looking at promoting the town’s program through stories in various media featuring property owners and what they constructed to provide ADUs, Ms. Hanley said.

There are some “really cool stories,” she said.

The Community Housing Fund, with revenues from a transfer tax paid by people buying property on the Island, has more than doubled thanks to a large sale in November. The fund now has $276,432, up from $137,009 prior to the latest deposit in its account. Some of those funds will be used to hire an attorney.

Among issues that the CHB expects to deal with involve elements of the town’s original community housing law’s creation of a floating zone for identifying sites that could be used for affordable housing, and the Community Housing License, which sets uses and rent levels.

Supervisor-elect Amber Brach-Williams told the CHB she will explore the laws, but agreed that, eventually, legal guidance on the application of those laws would best come from an attorney with experience in housing.