Persistence drives Shelter Island housing programs: Looking at past and present efforts

This is Part I of a two-part report on the status of community housing advancements.

“Not in my backyard.”

That and similar refrains were heard throughout the Island for years, and others paid lip service to the idea of affordable housing, but found fault with proposals, stopping them from moving forward.

Now many residents are applauding plans as the Community Housing Board moves forward to provide more housing — both affordable ownership and accessory dwelling units to provide rentals on existing properties.

Elizabeth Hanley, chairwoman of the Community Housing Board (CHB) is quick to praise her committee along with those she credits with laying the ground work under the leadership of Mary-Faith Westervelt.

Ms. Westervelt did “a lot of work in just thinking about how you could get it done,” Ms. Hanley said. She was advocating during the period of the NIMBY naysayers, who fought every proposal as soon as it became public.

Why aren’t these CHB members hampered in the same way?

Ms. Hanley doesn’t credit the previous administration or the Comprehensive Plan Task Force and Advisory Board, saying she couldn’t even get a meeting with the Comp Plan group to share the Community Housing Plan she knew would have to be in the appendix of a new Comprehensive Plan document.

Undeterred, CHB members continued to move forward thanks to the backgrounds they brought to the table — everything from real estate knowledge, legal expertise, financial knowledge, research abilities and just plain common sense — Ms. Hanley said.

Their trials didn’t end. There were the requirements of the Suffolk County Department of Health Services imposing limits on the number of units they could locate on sites. The CHB had to bow to those requirements, Ms. Hanley said. Some Town Code limits also appeared as stumbling blocks, but aided by Town Attorney Stephen Kiely, the CHB was able to maneuver around those obstacles.

Using funds from a 0.05 Community Housing Fund real estate transfer tax that narrowly passed muster with voters, they have hired an attorney to guide them through some aspects unique to affordable housing.

Add to that the CHB was able to secure a $2 million New York State Plus One Accessory Dwelling Unit grant that provided another means of creating rentals. Two are already under construction, with 14 more nearing that stage.

Although they aren’t required to meet affordable standards, they will fill a need by providing safe, reliable housing for 14 individuals or families. Some of those renters have been living in substandard housing, unable to find decent housing on the Island, Ms. Hanley said.

Securing that first grant required patience and persistence, Ms. Hanley said. She reached out to Gwen O’Shea, president and chief executive officer at the Community Development Corporation of Long Island (CDCLI), seeking support to write a grant proposal for the Island. Ms. O’Shea agreed to file the grant application and the CHB secured 16 property owners who could each qualify for $125,000 to defray the cost of either building accessory structures or developing them within the main house structure on their properties.

To date, Shelter Island has also secured a $1.5 million grant for additional ADUs. There’s a temporary delay in putting that second grant to work simply because the CDCLI became overwhelmed with clearing potential grant recipients to put the money to work.

“We went so fast that we kind of overwhelmed them,” Ms. Hanley said about the CDCLI call for patience in beginning to vet potential applicants for the Plus One money. It will happen, and at the end of the program, a total of 28 accessory dwelling units will have been created on the Island, Ms. Hanley said.

CHB members have held two open house sessions with Islanders to show designs of units that can be adapted to meet the character of the Island. Ms. Hanley said one person who had been an opponent of affordable housing attended a session and posed a question about why the CHB isn’t now pushing for more affordables.

“You have to get involved to change the course,” Ms. Hanley said, maintaining the school needs to survive, and there must be more middle class housing available on the Island. “There’s just so much need,” she added, noting she is already thinking about the next five years and a survey of what is needed for affordable housing.

Interviews with grant recipients whose accessory dwelling units are under construction will be in Part II.