The conversation about inclusionary zoning, which started in the Common Council Legal Committee back in 2020, has now been taken up by the Housing Trust Fund (HTF) Board. Inclusionary zoning is Strategy 2.01-A in Hudson's Strategic Housing Action Plan, adopted in 2018, and the HTF board has earmarked $100,000 for consultants to assist with policy issues, inclusionary zoning being one of those issues.
The following definition of inclusionary zoning comes from "Inclusionary Zoning: Everything You Need to Know," which appeared in Bloomberg in 2018: "Inclusionary zoning requires or incentivizes private developers to designate a certain percentage of the units in a given project as below market rate (BMR)--cheaper than their value on the market, and often less than the price of producing them." This article also makes the point that inclusionary zoning is a "popular tool for getting the private market to subsidize affordable housing."
Hudson currently has inclusionary zoning, but it applies only to one small section of the city: the Riverfront Gateway District, the area where Hudson Terrace is located. The Riverfront Gateway District (R-G) appears in royal blue on the zoning map below.
Inclusionary zoning was written into the zoning that was part of Hudson's Local Waterfront Revitalization Program (LWRP) because, at the time the LWRP was being developed, the PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) agreement for Hudson Terrace, initiated in 1973, was coming to an end, and there was the possibility the complex might be sold to someone who would want to develop market rate housing on the site. That, of course, didn't happen. Instead the complex was sold to Evergreen Partners, who renovated the buildings and entered into a new PILOT with the city, thus maintaining the status quo.
Recently, the Albany Common Council unanimously approved a new inclusionary zoning ordinance which has "stringent requirements for setting aside a portion of new apartments for people in the city who make less than 60% of the area median income." Last week, the Albany Business Review reported that Albany mayor Kathy Sheehan has warned the new law "could put 'insurmountable barriers' on developers and will make the city less competitive with surrounding municipalities." The entire article can be read here: "Albany mayor says new affordable housing law will choke development."
What's happening in Albany regarding inclusionary zoning may be a cautionary tale for Hudson, but one has to wonder how urgent the need for inclusionary zoning in Hudson really is. None of the new development projects currently somewhere in the pipeline--the Galvan buildings on North Seventh Street, the Kearney projects proposed for three City-owned sites, and the redevelopment being pursued by the Hudson Housing Authority--is a market rate project. The only market rate project we've heard of in Hudson in recent years is the one proposed in 2021 by Benchmark Development, in partnership with Galvan, for 11 Warren Street, and two years have passed without any further word about that.
Update: The Albany Business Review reported this afternoon that Mayor Kathy Sheehan has vetoed Albany's new inclusionary zoning law: "Mayor vetoes law she says would discourage new development."
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Inclusive housing may sound like a good idea, but Hudson Terrace seems to be the nexus of crime and civil disturbances such as the shooting of a 30 year old and an 18 year old during a drug deal, and many other situations in which police had to be involved.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, it has been said that 75 % of the civil disturbances in Hudson occur down there.
Is this a good and healthy social environment for the people of Hudson ?
I guess the post wasn't clear, or worse, it was misleading. Inclusionary zoning was imposed on that part of the city to preserve some amount of low-income housing should the property be sold to someone who wanted to build market rate housing there. As it turned out, that was not necessary, since the new owners wanted the complex to continue as it was. Hudson Terrace is NOT a product of inclusionary zoning. Quite the opposite.
DeleteHudson Terrace is a product of the Old Industry of Poverty, funded by grants from the Federal government to support the poor in concentrated areas. By default these places do the opposite of what the intention was.
DeleteKeeping the poor concentrated in these developments is state and federal funding keeping them out of the mainstream and away from better schools and a safer environment, while giving guaranteed income to absentee landlords. This old model and the newer one create a negative social pool that no one can escape from.
the "inclusive" housing proposed is just another iteration of the same old "for the poor" housing model that excludes them and traps them for generations.
The irony of this is that wealthy outside investors get low interest funding to build these units and reap the rewards.