Workforce Housing

March 12, 2007

The Builders Association of the Hudson Valley (“BAHV”) is concerned that there is lack of housing in the Mid-Hudson Valley for middle-income households, including young families, senior citizens, emergency service providers and others who form the fabric of our communities.

The lack of workforce housing is one of the prime contributors to the fact that the population from ages 18 to 34 has actually declined in the Mid Hudson Valley and that the lack of workforce housing is making it difficult for young people to find a home.

The BAHV also acknowledges that the provision of housing for our workforce is also vital in order to attract employers and the commercial growth that provides jobs and helps to augment our tax base.

However, the present structure of land use regulation and requirements and market forces make providing such housing nearly impossible without zoning law and other reform that takes these needs into account. The BAHV supports and intends to promote reasonable methods of creating workforce housing through regional planning and incentive based local zoning laws that foster partnerships between municipalities, state and federal organizations, non-profit organizations and builders and developers;

The Builders Association of the Hudson Valley believes that in order to promote the planning and execution of workforce housing, laws to create such housing must:

  1. Foster partnerships between municipalities, state and federal organizations, non-profit organizations and builders and developers.
  2. Include provisions to provide greater accessibility to central water and sewer services and a commitment by municipalities to invest in and extend their facilities.
  3. Do not place a disproportionate share of the responsibility and expense for creating workforce housing on builders and developers.

There are various attempts to address the need for workforce housing on the local municipality level. This creates a level of bureaucracy that is often difficult to negotiate. In addition encouraging regional permit predictability, there are other conditions that need to exist in order to fairly create workforce housing. Such as:

  1. Creation of incentive based zoning ordinances.
  2. Allowing sufficient densities to maintain profitability for private builders constructing work force housing.
  3. Including incentives to reward builders for constructing work force housing. For example, in the case of voluntary work force housing ordinances, at least 2 additional market rate units should be permitted for each work force unit.
  4. Waiving all recreation fees, connection fees and other fees charged by municipalities relating to the work force units.
  5. Providing for a streamlined review process for municipal boards to use when considering projects that include work force housing.
  6. Allowing for all new single family developments to be constructed in a manner that they either include or can be converted to include an accessory apartment to provide both a revenue stream for homeowners and an additional unit of work force housing.
  7. Including appropriate limitations on sale and resale prices, as well as reasonable structures for the selection of purchasers of the work force units.
  8. Having zoning ordinances which identify Priority Growth Areas where projects meet the above work force housing criteria are allowed as of right
  9. Amending New York State wetlands regulations to allow use of the existing 100’ buffer so long as appropriate stormwater structures are used to protect the wetlands area.
  10. Encouraging regional planning and the provision of fair sharing housing burdens for each municipality.
  11. Encouraging county and regional planning and financing for community water and sewer systems, including the expansion of existing and the continuation of new systems.