Affordable Housing Timely Topic for BCW State of the Economy Series

The Business Council of Westchester began a new year of the State of the Economy series presented by PSCB Bank with a panel discussion on how developers are successfully delivering affordable housing to Westchester County.

The panel included Joe Apicella, Executive Vice President of MacQuesten Development, LLC; Adam Bosch, President of Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress; Bill Balter, President of WBP Development LLC; Joan McDonald, Director of Operations at the Westchester County Office of the County Executive; Richard Nightingale, President & CEO of WESTHAB; and Stuart Rabin, Village Manager of the Village of Port Chester.

The developers explained how their job is to educate communities about affordable housing. In Westchester County, developers build affordable housing for households earning between $60,000 and $90,000 annually. These households provide the workforce that Westchester County’s economy relies on for many basic services.

“Affordable housing is a challenge that affects communities, businesses and economies,” said BCW President and CEO Marsha Gordon, who moderated the panel. “We all know that access to safe, stable, and affordable housing isn’t just a social issue it’s an economic imperative and it is economic development. We are exploring solutions, challenges, and opportunities to make sure that housing remains within the reach for all.”

Apicella said that the public often doesn’t recognize that there are several types of affordable housing. He noted that all the developers on the panel build affordable buildings that defy preconceptions. “Our amenity packages are as robust as any luxury development in Westchester County and our slogan is: We blur the lines between market rate luxury housing and affordable housing,” said Apicella. “I want you to walk into my project and say I can’t tell if this is affordable or it’s subsidized or it’s $7,000 a month rent.”

Bosch noted that population growth is not driving the tremendous demand for housing that is creating the crisis in affordability. The population of the nine counties of the Hudson Valley outside of New York City has remained at about 2.4 million for the past 30 years. “The biggest driver for housing right now is the shrinking size of the average family,” said Bosch, who explained that smaller household sizes require more housing for the same population size. “We are seeing that on a massive regional scale. Why? I like to tell the story of my family. My dad was one of four. I’m one of two. My son is one and done because my wife says we’re not doing it again. That is the story of our region.”

Balter said a municipality’s willingness to accept affordable housing, offer land, collaborate on building, and streamline approval processes dictates where his company will build. “If we go to a community that wants an environmental impact statement, we won’t do it. We want to go to communities that want us, and there’s now enough of an understanding of affordable housing and the asset that it is for communities that there are a lot of communities pulling us into their worlds and saying: This is what we want. Here’s how we’re going to help you,” said Balter.

McDonald said Westchester County’s affordable housing role is to provide financing for new construction and be creative with state and federal funding when it arrives. “A lot of counties throughout New York took their (pandemic relief) money and just put it into their general fund….We decided that it was much more important to make an impact,” said McDonald, noting that her office seeks ways for communities to say yes and not no to affordable housing.

Nightingale said that housing affordability is a broad issue not limited to people living in poverty. “Over 40% of households in Westchester are housing-cost burdened. So, it is really approaching half of our friends and neighbors who find themselves spending too much on housing cost. It’s equally distributed among renters and homeowners,” said Nightingale, adding that some municipal officials underestimate the affordability issue when WESTHAB proposes new housing. “What you’re being asked to do is build the housing that half of our community relies on so they can go to work every day.”

Rabin said Port Chester has approved almost 5,000 units of new housing since 2020 when the village replaced its zoning code, with 500 of those units affordable. He challenged his neighboring communities to do their share. “It’s very important to understand that affordable housing and building it is everyone’s job. It’s not Port Chester’s job to build 500 units for my surrounding communities,” said Rabin, noting that Port Chester’s long-term goal is to approve another 1,000 units and to encourage neighboring municipalities to build their fair share of affordable housing.