County Provides Affordable Housing Plan to HUD

Westchester County has sent its implementation plan to HUD and the federal monitor in response to the fair and affordable housing lawsuit.

The County received several extensions on filing the plan, which was originally due in October 2009 citing the “enormity” of the task of defining a methodology and process for development of 750 units and extensive community outreach.

The plan that was issued does not indicate where the affordable housing will be built, but outlines a process for decision-making and discusses financing, criteria for site selection, income requirements for residents of the units and advertising and outreach to ensure that the units are marketed to a racially and ethnically diverse population.

How will the County work with local municipalities who all have zoning codes in place? According to the plan, “The materials produced by the County are not intended to operate as a fully-integrated zoning code or to otherwise act as a substitute for those long-standing codes. Rather, what has been produced are a series of zoning provisions which are intended, collectively, to serve as a supplement to existing municipal zoning codes in Westchester County municipalities for the purpose of ensure the provision and promotion and affordable housing development.”

Local governments will be asked to adopt policies promoting fair and affordable housing in exchange for future county funds for Legacy/Open space and Community Development Block Grants (CDBG). Specifically, the plan requires the County to establish a policy where they set aside funds and resources for municipalities that consent to 1) ban housing that does not create affordable units, 2) provide the County with a right of first refusal to retain or purchase land and 3) provide assistance to the implementation of the settlement through land use regulations and other affirmative measures.

Within the plan are the criteria the County will consider in identifying potential sites for affordable housing construction. The plan in its entirety can be viewed here but here are a few of the Country priorities for site selection:

-Properties in default or subject to foreclosure that have been stalled or abandoned
-Private and public properties currently proposed for development that meet the program objectives
-Vacant properties, especially those in town centers in the “Eligible Municipalities”
-Improved properties that appear to be suitable
-Publicly owned sites
-County-owned property
-Sites suitable for Transit Oriented Development
-Accessory apartments – whereby homeowners would receive incentives for creating affordable units in communities that have accessory apartment regulations or are willing to adopt regulations
-Improved properties currently for sale with market prices at or near the “affordability standard.”

Other provisions in the plan provide maximum occupancy for the units, depending on the size as well as the income requirements for residents at both rental and purchased units. The maximum occupancy for a two-bedroom unit is five people, and a three-bedroom unit can be occupied by up to seven residents.

The plan also outlines benchmarks for completion of the housing to guarantee that the County does not wait until the end of the seven-year period to comply. Here are the deadlines for securing financing and building permits for the 750 units from 2011 – 2016:

End of Year    Sites with Financing      Units with Building Permits

2011               100                                50
2012               200                              125
2013               300                              225
2014               450                              350
2015               600                              525
2016               750                              750


In order to comply with the statistical and analytical work required by HUD, the County determined that they would need to hire a consultant. None of the consultants recommended by HUD could complete the required work by the January 31, 2010 deadline so HUD issued an extension for the work to June 30, 2010. The County has selected W. Frank Newton, Inc. to produce the work required by HUD in the settlement plan for which he will be paid $97,000.

According to the Westchester County website, the next step is for a plan review by the federal monitor in consultation with HUD to determine it’s adequacy.

Review the entire plan here: http://www.westchestergov.com/housingsettlement