Housing Needs Get Close Look
East Hampton Town’s community housing opportunity fund committee has assessed affordable housing needs here and recommended housing initiatives to the town board on Tuesday after presenting its report.
The committee analyzed and updated East Hampton Town demographic data, reviewed the affordable housing initiatives outlined in the most recently adopted version of the town housing plan, from 2004, and looked at their outcomes.
The only Suffolk County town with a higher poverty rate than East Hampton is Riverhead, Tom Ruhle, the town’s housing director, said Tuesday.
According to the committee’s report, there is a waiting list of 128 tenants seeking assistance with rents through the federal Section Eight program; applications were last accepted in early 2012. As of last spring, there were 185 people on waiting lists for three affordable housing complexes operated by the East Hampton Housing Authority; 265 senior citizens hoping for placement at the Windmill I and St. Michael’s housing complexes, and 216 people seeking affordable apartments at the town’s Whalebone Village. Some people may be on more than one list, according to the report, or may no longer be eligible.
Of 105 applicants on a list of people hoping to buy a house through a town affordable housing program, which dates to 2009, about 20 have gotten into their own houses with the town’s help.
Existing programs that should continue or be expanded, the committee says in its report, include subsidized homeownership programs, the Section Eight rental assistance program, underwritten by federal funds but administered by the town, and the town’s acquisition of parcels owned by the county for tax default, for use as affordable housing lots.
To address a need for rental units, especially for middle-income residents, the committee suggests creating a multifamily zoning classification, where apartments could be created. They would be only for year-round tenants, who would be subject to a maximum income cap. At present, said Mr. Ruhle, the town’s affordable housing zoning, where more density is allowed than in other zones, is for residents who earn up to 80 percent of the median income for the area, as determined by federal standards. The group recommends increasing that maximum income to 120 percent of the median income, or from $84,100 to $136,630 for a family of four. That would help the town to provide “year-round, middle-class apartments,” he said.
The group says that there is a “clear need” for zoning that allows seasonal housing, as was proposed in the 2005 comprehensive plan. Though legislation was discussed under a previous town administration, it was never enacted. Dormitories would be permitted, and en suite single or double-occupancy rooms, and communal cooking facilities have been recommended. That would help meet housing needs for the summer work force, the committee report says, “in a legal and safe way.”
Existing laws that allow apartments in single-family residences “have neither succeeded in dramatically creating more apartments nor resulted in the swamping of the neighborhoods,” according to the housing committee. The group suggests allowing apartments in detached structures on residential lots, provided they meet the required setbacks, and allowing apartments in basements provided they can meet all fire and safety standards. While under the present law, a homeowner must live in the main part of the house, if renting an accessory apartment, the committee suggests allowing the owner to rent the house and live in the apartment. Such a change would facilitate multi-generational housing, such as when an older resident may choose to live in the smaller space and rent out the remainder of the house, Mr. Ruhle said. Apartments larger than those currently permitted should be allowed, the committee suggests, if contained within an existing house.
Other new initiatives the group has suggested include establishing a down payment assistance program for first-time home buyers, and increasing the use of development credits banked after the town buys and preserves land to spur the construction of affordable apartments on commercial properties, by allowing additional septic flow to occur on those sites in a trade-off.
The committee also advocates state legislation that would allow towns to use a portion of the Peconic Bay Region Community Preservation Fund proceeds from a real estate transfer tax to build affordable housing. The purchase and preservation by the town of property has impacted the availability and cost of developable land, Mr. Ruhle said on Tuesday.
In addition, the committee report says the town should establish a new mechanism similar to the transfer tax to “fund a meaningful purchase program of open market properties” for affordable housing.
“Progressive ideas,” such as public-private sector partnerships in housing initiatives, and, perhaps, joint preservation and affordable housing programs, under the C.P.F. program, should be considered, according to the committee.