The application process for the Green at Gardiner’s Point, the East Hampton Housing Authority's newest affordable housing project, opened up only two months ago, but 543 applications for the Three Mile Harbor Road project have come in since. On Friday, Katy Casey, executive director of the housing authority, presided over a preliminary lottery, to assign the order in which applicants will be vetted.
“This is, not to be too corny, a momentous occasion,” she said upon welcoming everyone to the live meeting, held at Town Hall with all the applicants, and the entire town board, on hand.
The applicants are each hoping to rent one of 50 units that will be available for households making at or below 60 percent of the area’s median income,
which, according to the federal government’s latest report for Suffolk County, is $156,200.
“The rents here are too expensive, it’s really difficult to find any house that is available and cheaper,” said John Mendijana, who’d taken his family to the drawing, which was performed by Eric Schantz, the town’s director of housing. Each drawing drew a loud round of applause.
As mentioned by several officials throughout the meeting, a high spot on the waitlist does not guarantee an apartment, only an early call for an interview. Those who meet the various qualifications — among them income, identity, and household composition — will have a good shot at an apartment.
Ms. Casey advised those high on the waitlist to be ready to move quickly should they qualify, pulling together whatever documents they might need, so that apartments can be filled. “We’re hoping to get folks into those apartments within a matter of weeks,” she said.
Allison Giosa, vice president of development at Georgica Green Ventures, a co-developer of the project, noted that there is still time to apply, even though the application deadline has passed. “After this list is generated, 1 to 543, you would be 544,” she said.
To Build Even More
In a related move, the town board voted unanimously last Thursday to transfer two parcels of town-owned land on Route 114, totaling 6.5 acres, to the housing authority.
In doing so, Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez said in a statement, “we are creating more affordable housing opportunities and giving residents a path forward to security, financial stability, and a brighter future right here in our community. When we expand affordable rental opportunities, we support our working families, who are the backbone of East Hampton; ensure our seniors can age in place with dignity, and provide young people with a stable foundation to build their futures.”
Together, the two properties, numbers 776 and 780, will support about 50 units of rental housing, a number that is not yet set in stone. It is to be “a mix of unit sizes” with a “green and sustainable building design.”
The development will fall within the boundaries of the Wainscott School District, which has a capacity of approximately 30 to 40 children in three classrooms, spanning prekindergarten through fourth grade. The district pays tuition to send older children to neighboring school districts, which can be a tough nut to crack for residents of the small hamlet. In the 2022-23 school year, enrollment in the fifth through 12th grades saw an unexpected jump, leading to a substantial deficit in the school budget.
The impact of the new housing units on the school came up briefly during Saturday’s meeting of the Wainscott Citizens Advisory Committee. “We’re in the situation of maybe threatening the current school structure,” said Barry Frankel, a committee member.
School officials, who have previously been critical of work force housing developments within the district out of concern that the small schoolhouse would be overwhelmed, could not be reached for comment this week.
