Greenburgh to take steps to create additional affordable housing

EXPANDING AFFORDABLE HOUSING OPTIONS IN THE TOWN OF GREENBURGH

TOWN TO REQUIRE 10% of SINGLE FAMILY HOME DEVELOPMENTS TO BE AFFORDABLE

Commissioner of Community Development & Conservation Garrett Duquesne, AICP, gave a presentation to the Greenburgh Town Board during their Work Session on Dec 10 on planned Zoning Ordinance updates which would further provide for additional affordable housing in Greenburgh. A major change will be to require 10% of single family home developments to have affordable housing. Greenburgh was the first community in the region in the early 1990s to require 10% of multifamily housing to be affordable – an initiative many other communities have since implemented.

As background, approximately 65% of unincorporated Greenburgh’s housing stock was built pre-1970 when “affordable housing” was not prevalent. Despite this, approximately 4.3% of the current total stock (784 units) is “dedicated” affordable housing, whether it be in public housing developments that are 100% affordable, or units within mixed-income buildings. Commissioner Duquesne estimates that 4.3% is a high comparative percentage amongst Westchester municipalities, but there’s still great interest in expanding affordability with the goal of raising the percentage.

Currently, new multi-family construction projects require a 10% allotment of affordable housing units, with planned Zoning Ordinance updates that will extend this requirement to single-home construction as well.

The Town of Greenburgh currently defines Affordable Housing and Workforce Housing candidates as those falling at or below 80% of the Area Median Income (AMI). The Affordable housing definition currently has no low end cap, while the workforce has 30%.

The new proposal for Town Code does away with the Affordable Housing term altogether and replaces with three tiers of Workforce Housing. By WH1, candidates would be up to 80% AMI. WH2 would be those at 70% or below. And WH3, 60%. This widens the field to diversify the existing 10% allotments to those in a lower income range, with a proposed fairly even breakdown between the three groups.

Redefining workforce housing in this manner is not common and the proposed changes seek to keep the Town of Greenburgh at the forefront of housing diversity in Westchester. In Westchester County, 100% AMI is approximately $156K income for a family of four household. An 80% AMI rate would enable a family of four at or below $124K income to qualify for housing that doesn’t exceed 30% of their income.

Commissioner Duquesne said the draft code changes will continue to be revised and refined until March at which time they will be formally introduced to the Town Board as part of a local law process.

You can watch his full presentation here: https://youtu.be/WVTB0whEviU

PAUL FEINER

Greenburgh Town Supervisor