In July, the mayor's office issued an RFP (request for proposals) for a consultant to create an Affordable Housing Development Plan for Hudson. Responses to the RFP were due on August 3. Last night, at the Common Council Housing and Transportation Committee meeting, it was agreed to forward to the full Council a resolution to hire Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress to develop the plan.
Mayor's aide Michael Chameides, who presented the resolution last night, told the committee that four responses to the RFP had been received, some proposing a cost of as much as $200,000. Pattern for Progress is only asking for $30,000. As has already been reported, it is hoped that agencies involved in creating and maintaining affordable or subsidized housing in Hudson will contribute $5,000 each toward the consultant's fee. The agencies that have been mentioned in the past are HCDPA (Hudson Community Development and Planning Agency), Hudson Housing Authority, Habitat for Humanity, and the Galvan Foundation. That makes $20,000.
Chameides explained that the desired outcome was the identification of five sites practicable and desirable for residential development and the creation of a specific plan for each site.
The resolution to enter into a contract with Pattern for Progress will be introduced at the Council's informal meeting on Tuesday, October 13.
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The entities mentioned as providing funding for the plan should be prohibited from submitting proposals for property development under the plan. This is a clear conflict of interest. Find the 30k to pay for the plan independent of any of the potential developers/players. We just squandered about 400k on grants that will for the most part not bring in tourism dollars. Can we not come up with 30k to fund an independent plan that will, beholden to none, identify potential sites for development?
ReplyDeleteI'm heartened at the choice of Joe Czaika and Pattern for Progress. With Joe's leadership, Hudson got a strategic housing plan that explicitly will enhance the city's urbanistic qualities and avoid risks (like, not creating any more low-income ghettos for example), and is also grounded in the realities of finance, regulation and development. Pattern for Progress has many programs designed to support towns in the region like Hudson that lack planning capacity. I wrote about one in Planning Magazine a few years ago, linked below. We should welcome their involvement here.
ReplyDelete/Users/jonathanlerner/Dropbox/Community Builders.pdf
Jonathan:
Deleteto be clear, I have no issue with Pattern for Progress. I just think the funding should be independent of any entity that might have a site for development or might be interested in developing a site identified by the Joe and his team.