Ossining To Become Less Affordable Due To ETPA

Community Voices Heard and its representatives on the Ossining Village Board pushed through ETPA at last Wednesday’s meeting over the objections of many in the community. They pushed through an outdated, archaic, poorly designed law that does not create or promote any affordable housing. In doing so, they ignored the advice and input of their own land use boards, ignored the cautions of respected members of the community, ignored the objective data showing that Ossining was already an affordable community compared to all communities in Westchester, especially those with ETPA, ignored the consequences of additional taxation to the community and ignored the recommendations of the professionals they had hired to advise them on housing affordability in Ossining. The only voices they listened to were those of their promoters, Community Voices Heard.

Now that ETPA is adopted, what are its consequences to the Ossining community, both intended and unintended? Most importantly, what does this do for those looking for affordable housing in Ossining, the group that this was intended to serve?

The quick answer is that housing costs will increase, probably sharply in the near term for those looking for affordable housing. Here’s why:

1. The immediate reaction of the owners of the affected properties will be to post vacancies at a higher rate than normal until the inventory is used up. We all know that the ETPA housing inventory, the pre-1974 housing inventory, is already the most affordable market rate housing in the village as it is the oldest. As this inventory will be restricted going forward and as the building owner will want to get ahead of the meager rental increases allowed under ETPA, the rental rates of these few properties will be posted at higher than normal rates wherever possible.

2. Once this inventory is used up (currently 3% of the spaces)it does not come back on the market and does not become available for rent. The current occupants have a bargain and will resist moving. Additionally, they have transfer privileges built into their leases to enable them to stay in the space for a prolonged period of time further restricting the supply. As a result, the oldest and presumably most reasonably priced market rate living spaces are removed from the market. The vacancy rate of these properties, currently at 3%, will drop to close to 0% and in the few cases where the property will actually become vacant, the landlord is entitled to raise the rent by 20%!

3. So what options are left for those looking for affordable housing as only the inventory of post 1974 rental apartments is now available? The only inventory available to them are the newer units built after 1975 which are usually at a much higher price and which will have additional upward pressure as the supply of apartments in the community is now restricted. Additionally landlords with ETPA properties will be tempted to increase rents on their non-ETPA holdings to make up for the losses to be incurred on their ETPA holdings further turning a once affordable community into one that is less affordable.

4. So what will happen to Ossining’s affordability? It will become like other communities in Westchester County with ETPA, less affordable! This has been the history of ETPA in other communities and is supported by the data.

So what did ETPA accomplish?

1. It will give certain benefits to a chosen few already in place in the ETPA properties.

2. It will drive up rental costs and lower affordability for the rest of the Ossining community.

3. For those currently looking for affordable housing, as the oldest a most affordable inventory is no longer available, they will most likely have to look to other communities in Westchester or further that have more reasonable pricing.

Who loses with ETPA? Those looking for affordable housing may be the biggest losers as they will not be able to access this housing in Ossining but will need to look elsewhere. Ossining will lose its current ranking as an affordable community in Westchester as most rental spaces in Ossining will see price increases. The Ossining community as a whole is hurt due to increased taxes as ETPA properties are tax subsidized placing that burden on already overtaxed property owners. The owners of the small properties (6-10 family) get crushed as they do not have the efficiencies of scale to be able to deal with the limitations introduced by ETPA.

Who wins? Only Community Voices Heard as they can brag to their donors on their policy victory to potentially increase their funding for next year.

What can the Ossining Community do? Community Voices was able to get this poor legislation passed because they were able to get their advocates a majority on the Village Board positions and thus control its agenda. OSSINING MUST VOTE THEM OUT!

I urge all democrats to vote against the CVH candidate in tomorrow’s primary. I urge all Ossining voters to vote against the CVH candidates in November.

John Van Steen