GUEST VIEWPOINT: Diversity of Housing Creates Affordability

The United States is currently facing a significant housing shortage, a deficit estimated to be 4.5 million units nationwide. Here in Westchester County, we’d need 21,000 units to meet current demand, a shortfall predicted to hit 77,000 if construction rates remain the same for the next decade.

Lack of housing directly impacts local employment. A report released in June by the Westchester County Association and the Regional Plan Association warns that, if the growing housing crisis is left unaddressed, the county could lose between 8,400 to 12,000 jobs annually and $533 million to $742 million in annual earnings.

The lack of affordable housing options is particularly acute, impacting seniors, people with disabilities, and those with low to moderate incomes.

Typical legislation intending to foster affordable housing attempts to mandate the creation of a percentage of below-market units within larger developments, limiting availability to families below a maximum family income while capping total permissible outlay for housing, including principal, interest, taxes and insurance.

While the goal is commendable, the typical approach can create a problem in suburbia, especially when the “area” median income used to determine threshold incomes is inconsistent with the salaries demanded by the hyperlocal job market. In some Westchester communities, for example, local essential workers providing critical public services— Police, Fire, DPW—are often priced out of qualifying for affordable units, but don’t quite earn enough to afford the typical market rate units where they work.

In Briarcliff Manor, where I serve as Deputy Mayor, we supplement the standard affordable housing approach by encouraging diversity of housing stock. Our strategy is simple: allow developers a higher density of housing in exchange for the creation of greater diversity of housing stock. Encouraging smart, marketable housing is especially important in popular suburban areas, as the inventory of available lots free from environmental challenges—steep slopes, wetlands, critical wildlife corridors—continue to shrink.

Recently, on a large parcel that might have allowed 30 single-family homes on one-acre lots, we used a Planned Unit Development approach, permitting three times the density in exchange for a mix of two-, three-, and four-bedroom units for purchase. The resulting site plan will include a mix of single-family homes, three-story townhouses, and duplex units in attached multifamily structures, providing additional options for local homeowners looking to live in suburbia without incurring the typical expense of larger yard maintenance. Shared open space and recreation features create a more affordable option within the larger community.

On a second lot, located directly within our central business district, we used a newly created Flex Zone to permit increased building heights and higher lot coverage, in exchange for the creation of studio, single, and two-bedroom rental units, as well as additional ground-level retail spaces to augment our downtown area. Shared parking arrangements create extra capacity for local shops, especially during critical daytime shopping hours, as residential parking is freed while owners’ cars are at work or parked at the train station.

On both properties, the resulting abundance of housing provided potential village residents with a range of price points, as well as lower annual tax and maintenance expenses. The smaller sized housing options generate fewer school-aged children than traditional single-family housing, so local schools are not unduly stressed by the extra units.

This diversity of supply achieves much of the same goals as traditional affordable housing. Adding smaller units to a suburban land that is typically zoned to provide 75% (or more) of single-family homes is attractive to both first-time buyers and empty-nesters, who can sell their now-oversized residences and remain in the community they have always called home.

In addition to helping fund large infrastructure—water, sewer, weather-resistant subterranean electric—the federal government could promote more affordable housing by providing grants and incentives to encourage greater heterogeneous housing throughout the country.

We have found that bolstering diverse supply rather than homogeneous single-family homes is a preferred mechanism to encourage affordability throughout our community. The building process for smartly planned development is streamlined, no third-party is required to monitor household income levels and ensure qualifications, and the density bonuses increase housing stock more effectively than the mandate for a small percentage of affordable units.

A secondary benefit is the snowball effect: policies that encourage diverse development breed additional investment from current property owners seeking to maximize the value of their own properties. For example, allowing extra floors of building height throughout above retail stores in our Central Business Districts has encouraged owners of older commercial buildings to consider rebuilding for the extra residential rental income. That’s more housing and more nearby customers to shop locally. That’s win-win for all.

Briarcliff Manor expects about 250 units of additional housing to be developed over the next three years. That’s about an 8% increase of housing stock, an increase of supply to meet demand, and a great way to offer a more affordable option for key segments of the community.

About the author: Peter Chatzky is Deputy Mayor of Briarcliff Manor, an advocate for greater diversity of housing, and is a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the 17th Congressional District in New York.