Work in progress
We’ve been quiet here for most of the last month. But we kept busy, as always.
The affordable housing crisis continues to remain all too real. Progress is being made in fits and starts. And funding for affordable homeownership programs remains a core issue in NY. There’s just not enough to get more housing built. Especially in smaller communities that can’t accommodate massive projects.
If we cannot find a solution to building more homes for our average wage and lower-income workers that fit into smaller locales, our communities will continue to see an exodus of younger, working-age residents. There will be few left to serve us in our service-based economy.
The demographics are damning.
We are seeing the number of households forming increase, while the housing supply decreases.
In the Hudson Valley, there has been a net outflow of about 135,000 people over the past 25 years. The most often-cited reason is housing.
The average 2-person household making 100% of Area Median Income cannot afford to purchase a home in most places.
This is not a recipe for healthy, vibrant communities.
But, like Sisyphus, we persist nevertheless. While we agitate and advocate, we have been finishing up our current building project, getting two families ready to occupy their homes, hopefully in early summer.
We have also been prepping for building the first of our new designs, and expect to break ground by the end of May.
This prototype will be started by volunteers coming together on the grounds of the NY State Capitol on May 21. We expect hundreds of hands to be happily putting together the panels that will make up the bones of a 3 bedroom, 2 bath home in the northern Columbia County (NY) hamlet of Niverville.
More will follow. (At least that’s the plan.)
We believe that our new initiative can be a game-changer in our rural communities. A simple, super energy efficient, easily constructed home that’s targeted to be affordable by average wage workers. And can be built off-site and easily transported to where the need is. The panels for the entire home can be packed on a flat bed trailer.
To make this a reality, we need to accelerate our efforts to get accommodative zoning, community support and fair tax policies for subsidized affordable homes. And more funding, of course.
What better way to get attention than by building on the doorstep of our elected state representatives?
Let’s build. Together.