Here's an interesting bit of information, which I learned recently and share without comment. Kenneth Kearney, founder and president of Kearney Realty & Development Group, the developer, chosen by the City to create affordable housing in Hudson, now proposing the problematic Mill Street Lofts and State Street Lofts, sits on the Board of Directors of Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress, the research group whose recent study concluded that, even with all of the income-restricted housing projects currently being proposed for Hudson, we still need more.
COPYRIGHT 2025 CAROLE OSTERINK
There's always two ways to go about cost burden: Lower the costs, or increase wealth.
ReplyDeleteYou seem to be in the camp of lowering the costs. I am not opposed to this but you are omitting a few things here.
In Hudson, housing isn't the only thing that is expensive. Everything else is, too.
Whoever gets to live in one of those affordable units still has to find a solution for that. They will probably not want to do their grocery shopping at Olde Hudson or Talbott & Arding. So they'll need a car to drive out to any of the normie grocery stores out in Greenport.
People may find that many forms of health services do not exist in Hudson. If you need a root canal, you will in all likelihood drive to Poughkeepsie or Albany.
I find it telling that the only other possible solution that comes to your mind is a higher UBI (something that is running out soon anyway, IIRC).
That puts you firmly in line with Spark of Hudson. Their entire raison d'être
is to manage poverty and thus there can never be enough of it. The billionaire couple that runs it (the ones with pockets deep enough to do the UBI thing) gets to harvest sweet social capital from it.
What you are not talking about is creating economic opportunities for these cost-burdened folks. And neither do the Mayor or the Common Council President. When I met with Tom, like maybe a month ago, and explained to him in detail why I believe Hudson's economic future is in jeopardy and how this housing plan might exacerbate it, he didn't even think there was an issue. He genuinely believes Hudson is doing great.
When your premier elected political leaders have mentally atrophied to a point where they can no longer take in and process basic economic figures while engaging in a counter-productive plan riddled with conflicts of interest, you may understand why the other side grows impatient.
I'll go out on a limb here when I say that Carole is not advocating for a higher UBI. She is probably advocating, as am I, for no UBI but sustainable jobs instead. Find me a single Kamal statement made between today and 2020 where this is a topic. You won't find it because it goes past his imagination.
Indeed, the best place for new low-moderate income housing would be on Fairview Avenue which convenient to a variety of shopping. Hudson needs to start developing homes that are going bring in more property tax payers, more property tax payers, more programs for those in need. The majority of intelligent people realize the Mayor is completely unqualified for his position and his main agenda is taking care of Eric Galloway's interests and his own. I have no doubt this first question that goes through his mind when something comes to him is "what is in it for me?" If anyone believes that Kamal Johnson puts the best interest of Hudson before his ego and interests, then you are living in a fantasy world. It is completely unethical for the mayor to be living in a home owned by one of the largest property owners in Hudson. Do we even know if he is paying Galvan rent? We have member of the Planning Board that lives in a Galvan property, Randall Martin. Mr. Martin should not be involved in any project that involved Galvan because he lives in one of his properties (a very run down property with a yard full of garbage) and has received grants from Galvan for his business. It is embarrassing he is even allowed to serve on any public board in this town.
ReplyDeleteTassilo, the two specific impediments to low-income citizens surviving in Hudson you listed are actually pretty navigable (between Rolling Grocer & the Hudson Farmers' Market double-up programs, Instacart, public vans & medical transports, you can get by without a car with those two examples in mind). I do agree about a focus on exploring creative economic opportunities locally, though I'm also not sure what's realistic in the longterm as far as trading labor for money. But paths-to-homeownership programs and other endeavors in this vein are great things to explore and expand, and within the ability of local leaders. I'm partial to Andrew Yang's theories that almost all jobs will be replaced by automation/AI, maybe not in 10 or 20 years, but eventually. If correct, some big rethinking will need to take place in the coming years & decades. At the federal level, I think a good answer is an eventual UBI, starting with income tax exemptions for the first, maybe 75k of income, all paid for at least in part by the wealthiest citizens who don't need to think too hard about navigating buying groceries (and by simplifying bureaucracies). The dichotomous alternative I see would be intense income inequality regressing toward the way things were in the first 150 years of the country.
ReplyDeleteIf these housing developments were done as suggested, looked more like two- or four-family homes, and were sprinkled throughout the town, there would be more support for them. Also, by providing PILOTs for these large-scale developments, we are adding many new, non-property-tax-paying residents to our city services and schools, with very few people footing the bills.
ReplyDeleteYes! It would also be great if they could be developed to make people able to purchase the homes with either no or low interest mortgage and downpayment assistance. Two issues addressed, homes and property tax revenue.
DeleteFrom ChatGPT : Massachusetts has conducted multiple studies on how PILOTs work in relation to affordable housing projects. Research by local housing agencies and advocacy groups has shown that PILOT programs often underfund city services, particularly when they apply to affordable housing developments. These programs sometimes fail to cover the full range of public services required by new residents, such as public schools and emergency services.
DeleteFinding: In one case, the net benefit of PILOTs in a major affordable housing development did not sufficiently cover the increased demand for public school services. One example from the study showed that while PILOTs generated roughly $1,000 per unit per year, the cost of services could reach $2,000–$3,000 per unit annually.
and don't think I'm against afforable housing. I'm only against large scale cold war style housing projects, especially in a tiny town like Hudson.
DeleteThomas, I think it would behoove you to take a closer look at some of these PILOTs and how they are structured.
DeleteMost of them off the bat provide a discount of at least 60% of what regular property tax would be. Secondly, they are structured similarly to mortgages where the principal paid is very small initially. IIRC, the PILOT being proposed for 75 N 7th St (or 76 - I can never remember which is which) stipulates that something like $20k or less is due in the first year.
PILOTs tend to be back-loaded (heavily back-loaded, that is) and each PILOT either already in effect or being discussed is a bad deal for the city. I looked at them and that is the conclusion I drew.
I mean no use belaboring the point, most people in Hudson aren’t interested in working class concerns and are only interested in the executive of the city operating as a set designer for their boutique upstate lifestyle. The wretched of the earth should perish at the alter of the free market in someone else’s backyard, this is a historic neighborhood.
ReplyDeleteI had suggested previously, that converting the area of Bliss towers into a luxury 55+ community with a percentage of spaces available for low/moderate income seniors. Again, homes and tax revenue. 55+ communities are rapidly growing.
ReplyDeleteStory as old as time: nonprofit group and study funded by a for-profit corporation, and advocates that we need more of what the for-profit is selling.
ReplyDeleteAlso, as many of us have pointed out. Most of these local housing advocacy groups are funded by the same large developers that we’re all familiar with. The same groups that astroturf the council meetings and spam them with form letters. All to push on us large, costly developments, and tax exemptions that make the cost of living higher for everyone else.
Ha! I’ve worked for both the government and development for nonprofits, as well as the private sector. I’m well aware of governance in those different sectors and how nonprofit board members are selected, especially for their influence and expected contributions.
DeleteSince you say you work in both housing and labor organizing, you’re also familiar with the game. Have fun when the federal grant gravy train gets derailed.
Agent provocateurs. Doesn’t live here. Paid to post.
DeleteBilly, I appreciate that you seem to be thinking outside the box. I have convinced myself maybe two years ago that something is seriously wrong and that this hole that Covid dug for us is one we may not be able to climb out of again.
ReplyDeleteSo I started reaching out to various people in Hudson who I thought might share my concerns, just to have a chat and find out if they had any ideas. Peter Spear was actually the first one I met.
What I've learned is that we all appear to agree as far as the analysis of the status quo is concerned. Unfortunately, we all were a lot less successful when it came to coming up with solutions. There's this prevailing sentiment of "yeah, well, this may not actually be fixable".
The idea of UBI is one I've always hated but maybe there comes a point when it starts making sense. There exists currently no plausible strategy (not in Hudson and not at the national level) to slow down the widening of the wealth gap.
It has gotten so bad that I believe at this point it has become a credible threat to democracy. Not just in this country where the old system is being dismantled in front of our eyes but also in Europe where a bunch of countries (my country of origin Germany included) don't even have a government anymore.
Thomas, it would indeed be a fraught solution to find jobs that don't exist. They need to be created first.
ReplyDeleteThe City of Hudson has the power to subsidize the creation of these jobs, or at least try. There might be a few industries that could be a good fit for Hudson and the county.
The most obvious one is the film and movie industry which tends to offer quite a bit of variety amongst the jobs they create. A studio with a sound stage for example wouldn't be there just for the creatives. A larger chunk of the jobs provided by these places actually go to electricians, wood workers etc - most of these jobs by the way are unionized.
This is something worthwhile spending a PILOT on.
Does Ken Kearney live anywhere on or near Mill Street? Of course he doesn't!
ReplyDelete