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Villages West project in Melville

Affordable Housing’s Next Step

Last week, Town of Huntington officials gathered at the site of the Villages West
housing development in Melville to announce the start of a lottery process to
award homebuyers the right to purchase affordable housing units there. A total
of 60 two-bedroom condominiums will be built in the gated community that, when
it is completed, will be the last of five phases of housing built on 155 acres
comprised of the former McGovern Sod Farm and another parcel.

The rezoning that allowed the Villages and Villages West to be built at a higher
density than its existing zoning would have permitted ended a decade-long effort
by their developers to reach an agreement with the town. When the rezoning was
approved in the early 1990s, it was the promise of an affordable housing
component that made the difference. In return for a higher density zoning than
would otherwise have been allowed, the builder, Barbash Associates, agreed that
20 percent of the housing built on the property would be made available to
first-time homebuyers at below market rates. The price of the 2-bedroom
condominiums: $140,000.

It’s taken more than a decade since the rezoning was approved by the town
board under the administration of then-Supervisor Steve Ferraro, but those
affordable homes are on the way. Thirty future homeowners will be selected in a
lottery on November 15 and families should begin moving in by the spring of
2005. Thirty more units will be made available in a similar process when the final
phase of the five-phase development is completed.

Everything about what led to the creation of these affordable units was right. In
return for a higher yield — and thus greater profits — the developer was required
to provide affordable housing. A win-win situation for everyone involved.

Since then, the town has passed legislation imposing similar requirements on
developers of large projects, but things are not going quite as swimmingly.

For one thing, the steady upward spiral of property taxes has school districts
growing increasingly concerned about the addition of new housing stocks for
anything but childless senior citizens because of the impacts on enrollment. As a
result, the Greens at Half Hollow, comprised of more than 1,000 housing units,
was restricted almost exclusively to senior citizens. And to meet the town’s
required affordable housing component, the developer was allowed to build the
affordable units on another property miles away. What’s more, since that project
fell short of the required 20 percent, the developer exercised an option to write a
check — as is allowed under the law — instead of building the housing.

Unfortunately, while construction on the luxury Greens has chugged along, the
off-site affordable housing hasn’t been started.

Huntington was on the leading edge when it required an affordable housing
component of developers, and if other towns don’t follow Huntington’s lead, the
county or state ought to step in to mandate similar requirements. And while
they’re doing that, perhaps Huntington could lead the way again by finding ways
to deal with the questions of school children and rising property taxes.

From LongIslander News

Posted by dc at July 9, 2004 03:25 PM