There is a lot of talk and planning going on around affordable housing: the buildings proposed for North Seventh Street, the plan to convert the former John L. Edwards School into affordable apartments, the Hudson Housing Authority's development plans, proposing inclusionary zoning throughout the city--all this going on before the city has its Affordable Housing Development Plan in place. Back in October 2020, the Common Council passed a resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into a contract with Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress to develop the plan, and today it occurred to me to wonder what was happening with that project. Shortly after 2:00 p.m., I sent an email to mayor's aide Michael Chameides asking about the status. When would the work begin or had it already begun? At approximately 2:30 p.m., this notice appeared on the mayor's Facebook page, directing people to a new announcement on the City of Hudson website: "Hudson Pursues Affordable Housing Development Plan."
Update: Gossips just got clarification from Michael Chameides that Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress began its work on April 1.
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I hope the City can avoid the mistakes of the early 1970's, when Hudson built a surplus of subsidized housing, which resulted in a concentration of people facing economic challenges into one neighborhood.
ReplyDeleteThat isn't an unreasonable fear, as the high cost of housing right now may be affected short-term when people start heading back to NYC, and long-term if an infrastructure bill that rebuilds the rail corridor between NYC and Albany moves the track away from the river passes. Having said that, neither is necessarily going to happen, and there are a ton of unknowns in the mix.
DeleteAs any good capitalist does, the politicos of Hudson in the 70s advertised for the poor to move into town because they needed tenants for all housing they had built. It was a business, the same as it is today.
ReplyDeleteWhat they really wanted was all that Federal money pouring into their pockets. and they got it but I am not so sure the city was better off for it.
do we need 260 units at John L Edwards and the Depot Development with 138 units, or 400 units plus housing 800 to 1200 people of low income who will need the most in City services and pay the least in taxes ?
the population here in Hudson is shrinking, but the tax bills are escalating dramatically. there are few jobs here other than the people who are self employed and seem to be doing quite well.
If you add this much of a financial burden here to end up with the following:
From the website of the developers of the John L Edwards School, Adirondack Properties, owned by Mayfair Management of Florida, you will end up with this:
hit the sidebar to the right of the map to see what all this looks like in photos.
https://www.mayfairmgt.com/search/
they have developed many "affordable projects" in Texas and Mississippi.
Do you all really to turn Beautiful Hudson into
a mass of plastic mid century ugly housing developments? Bliss Towers never won any prizes for architectural excellence.
the real question is whether you need all of this, whether you can you afford it, and what will it do to a city that just has been restored and vitalized by hard working individuals who poured their souls into it ?
the future should not look this grim and mediocre.
Thank You !
DeleteCapitalists have never been friends of Democracy.
Deletehttps://jacobinmag.com/2021/04/capitalism-electoral-democracy-property-relations?fbclid=IwAR1QfeTrW8NHiPlBvlk3ulqYoDV6GrRTowCIEpW7Jr-uJH6I3Y0o9rv6TFs
Looking forward to when there is a study around taxpayer anti-displacement. Seems like these projects will add a lot more students to the schools and nothing to cover it.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile the state of Vermont is desperately seeking people who might be interested in moving to Vermont. They are be offering people between $5000 - $7,000 cash if they will move to Vermont. Their older citizens are passing away and their young people all move away. Crazy.
ReplyDeletehttps://thinkvermont.com/relocate/