Affordable Housing in Westchester: LWVS Invites Experts to Explain

With 16,000 affordable houses needed in Westchester County and only four affordable units in Scarsdale, what can our Village do to help fill the void?

That was the subject of a luncheon sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Scarsdale on Monday November 18 at the Scarsdale Library. Fall Food for Thought Event. The discussion was led by Tiffany Zezula, Esq. is the Deputy Director for the Land Use Law Center at Pace University School of Law in White Plains with presentation by Terry Fleishman of the Westchester County Department of Planning and Rose Noon, Executive Director of the Housing Action Council.

Reviewing the data Fleischman defined affordable in terms of the ratio between gross household income and the monthly rent or monthly expense for a homeowner. For rentals that’s defined as 30% and for owners, 33%.

The county has estimated that 16,007 more affordable household units are needed for the almost 1,000,000 people living in and commuting to Westchester for work. A lack of available infrastructure and lack of financial support is hampering efforts to fill this void.

She said, “The cost of housing is a significant barrier to attracting a skilled work force to Westchester. More workers commute into the county than live and work here and more affordable housing would make our economy more competitive. All types of housing are needed: starter homes, homes for families, homes for downsizers and homes for seniors.”

Noonan reviewed the status of affordable housing in Scarsdale, where there are only 4 units among 5,700 households. Two are in the Ambassador, a senior living facility on Saxon Woods Road, one at the new development at The Heathcote and the last is a Village owned home.

She noted that Scarsdale’s comprehensive plan requires the inclusion of an affordable unit in multifamily projects of 5-9 units and in subdivisions of 10 or more homes.

Around Westchester she sited work being done to bring affordable housing to communities.
In Dobbs Ferry there are plans to use a municipal parking lot and another small site to create housing. Residents put out an RFP to developers, and are currently reviewing proposals and hope to get approval to build. Near the trains station in the Village of Ossining, there is a “Brown Field” that Con Edison needs to remediate and will then be used to build affordable housing.

Pleasantville has passed an affordable housing ordinance and built a few new developments with a small number of affordable units. They also purchased condo units at market price and reduced that to affordable prices.

Tiffany Zezula explained that there are no affordable housing quotas to be met by municipalities so the onus is on the community to do the right thing. Subsidies from the state and county are limited so the best way to construct affordable housing is in partnership with private developers who receive incentives through tax credits for building affordable units.

In Scarsdale, the Municipal Services Committee of the Scarsdale Forum is currently urging the Scarsdale Board of Trustees to re-open discussions about the development of the Freightway Site. This could include both market rate and affordable units as well as parking, retail space and community facilities. They contend that the development would meet many Village needs. First, the Freightway Parking garage is beyond its useful life and requires significant investment to remain open. The development would provide housing for current residents seeking to downsize or newcomers looking for a more affordable way to live in Scarsdale. Village retailers would benefit from more foot traffic from those living near the Village Center and the project would serve to revitalize Scarsdale. The Village embarked on a process to develop the site before COVID, but it was dropped when the community failed to reach consensus.

Learn more about their proposal here.