Talking Points for Speaking Out About Housing in Your Community

Who is affected by the housing shortage in Westchester County?

• Employers who would relocate but worry their employees couldn’t afford it
• Those who commute into Westchester for work
• Seniors, millennials, people of color, middle class families
• Current residents missing out on the economic benefits of building new housing

• According to the 2019 Westchester County Housing Needs Assessment, Westchester County needs 11,703 total new units of housing just to meet the present-day demand.

• The construction of 100 units of multifamily housing generates an average of 161 jobs and $11.7 million into the local economy in the first year and supports an average of 44 jobs and generates $2.6 million each year once the project is complete.

• Study after study shows an unambiguous net surplus for local property taxes, taking into account both the cost of providing services to these new residents and any capital expenditure made by the municipality to increase capacity.

• Building 100 multifamily units is projected to generate $2.2 million in tax revenue in the first year, and $503,000 per year in recurring revenue. Typically, that means the project brings in enough taxes to not only cover services but any capital improvements necessary to support the new residents.

• The economic “multiplier effect” from infrastructure spending on new housing construction is as large or larger as the same investment on the construction of highways and streets.

• The vast majority of academic studies over decades have found that affordable housing does not depress neighboring property values and may even raise them in some cases.

• Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) are small, self-contained apartments that are added onto the same property as an existing single-family home, duplex, or other residential building.

• Accessory dwelling units provide more affordable housing options while supplementing incomes to middle-class and senior homeowners, providing a boost to local contractors and employment, and in nearly all cases increasing home values for a sustained boost to the local economy.

• ADUs can be garage conversions, backyard cottages, converted attics or basement apartments — any space on an existing lot that can be repurposed into a fully separate living place.

• ADUs are typically unnoticeable from the street, nor do they noticeably transform the neighborhood character of a single-family zone.

• ADUs are a small piece of the overall housing puzzle but may be attractive options for empty nester or middle-class homeowners who have more available than they need, and seniors’ millennials and others who may be looking for smaller, more affordable options, without concern for overwhelming municipalities or school districts.

• Over 20 Westchester municipalities have passed an ordinance to require that all future housing developments contain no less than 10 percent of the units as affordable units, defined as costing no more than 30% of the monthly income for a middle-class individual or family.

• The only municipalities required to do this were ones that had been found by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development to have a history of exclusionary or discriminatory zoning – but it’s a good idea for all communities!

• This year, Tuckahoe and Peekskill have passed affordability ordinances with a 10% set aside, and it’s worth looking at for your community.

• The Westchester County Planning Department drafted a model ordinance that municipalities can use to get started, and it includes other helpful policies, includes requirements for pre-application meetings and estimated timelines for review of applications where at least 10% of the units will be affordable, which incentivizes builders to create affordable housing.

• If your municipality is drafting a new ordinance, they should include the County’s recommended policies! If they already have an ordinance that doesn’t include all the County’s recommended policies, they should consider making amendments.

• Transit-oriented developments (TODs) can be townhouses, duplexes, quadplexes, apartment buildings, or other context-specific multifamily housing located within half a mile of Metro-North Railroad stations and built to be energy-efficient, affordable, and to promote walking and public transportation.

• Study shows that allowing for mixed-use, mixed-income, and multi-family housing close to public transit is deeply enriching to our environment and our local downtowns, and our overall economy, as well as a potential game-changer for young people and families who live and work in Westchester but have trouble finding housing in their price range.

• By design, TODs result in less dependence on cars, less traffic, more use of public transit, more walkable and revitalized downtown centers, more educational opportunities for children, and entices more businesses and jobs to locate near our transit hubs – to say nothing of providing a funding boost to the Metro-North Railroad so many Westchester residents rely on.

• Too often, these transit-oriented communities get tied up in lengthy review processes or saddled with outdated and climate-unfriendly parking requirements — which defeat the purpose!