The project also has a Phase 2. In July, John Madeo of Mountco, HHA's development partner, said the total number of units, in Phases 1 and 2, would be between 260 and 270--twice as many units as HHA currently has.
It was April 2023 when HHA chose Mountco Construction and Development from Scarsdale as its development partner. At that time, we also learned that Alexander Gorlin Architects would be designing the project. Although Gorlin and members of his team have appeared at meetings from time to time, in two and a half years, the public has never seen any drawings or renderings to show what the future buildings will actually look like. In July, the drawing below of the townhouses proposed for Columbia and Second streets was shared with the public, with the caveat that this may not be the final design.
Statements made by Madeo at the last HHA Board of Commissioners meeting suggest that we may see the "full architectural design" for the project in February.
Meanwhile, although we know very little about what HHA is planning for our little fiscally challenged city that takes pride in its historic architecture, the Common Council last week approved a new cooperation agreement with HHA. Up until 2019, when HHA completed its RAD conversion, HHA properties were entirely tax exempt. In 2019, HHA entered into a PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) agreement with the City of Hudson. HHA paid $30,000 in property taxes annually--an amount that is divided among the City of Hudson, Columbia County, and the Hudson City School District. (Most homeowners in Hudson pay more than $10,000 annually in property taxes.) According to the terms of the new cooperation agreement, HHA will make a lump sum payment of $120,000 in the third quarter of 2026, and that payment will replace the PILOT payments for 2025, 2026, 2027, and 2028. What happens after 2028, when construction of Phase 1 is complete, is not clear.
When the new cooperation agreement came before the Common Council on November 18, Councilmember Margaret Morris (First Ward) asked the question, "What happens after 2028?" If Dan Hubbell, the attorney representing HHA, answered that question, Gossips missed it. Morris, who as Common Council Majority Leader serves on the Industrial Development Agency (IDA), observed that, when considering a PILOT, the IDA has "much more information than HHA is providing." Morris suggested they table the resolution, but, ignoring her suggestion, Council president Tom DePietro called for a vote. All members of the Council voted to approve the resolution except Morris, who voted no.
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Phase 1 might get built.
ReplyDeletePhase 2 already looks materially at risk, given HUD rule changes and the huge New York State budget gap. We have seen this before with Bliss; the parallels are not encouraging.
Dodson does not seem to be reading (Secretary of HUD) Scott Turner’s memos. The self-styled “Republicrats” in MountCo are loading the public balance sheet with a large capital gamble, and in the process risking a lot of their own capital.
The project also cuts against what serious research says about how to help low-income families.
See the MacArther winner discuss it here (from about 4:55):
https://youtu.be/w8hHtk7oe1w?t=295
And the underlying study, with replication and real-world results, is here:
https://opportunityinsights.org/paper/cmto/
So what is this really about: helping people in need, or giving developers profits and career politicians campaign material and votes?
In the end the MountCo executives and the Hinchey-style politicians and their staff will not live in these buildings. They are backing housing (and education) they would reject for their own families, which tells you everything about the quality they expect poorer residents to tolerate.
It’s fucking unbelievable that there’s only one adult on the council. That in the face of a staggeringly unbalanced budget, with no debate, no explanation and no analysis, our solons blithely vote to support screwing their neighbors. Happy Thanksgiving!
ReplyDeleteMany residents, and certainly Council members, do not realize that by voting for failed welfare programs they are actually harming those they claim to help. Why is Hudson harming its indigent youth in perfectly preventable ways?
DeleteIf they really wanted to improve affordability they would simply lower property taxes across the board to the same level as Kinderhook, Claverack etc. Then owners and developers can develop and repair more "missing middle" housing that is distributed. Which research shows (see link above) is better for everyone.
See more here on "Gentle Density" and "Missing Middle Housing" -
https://www.instagram.com/p/DKPX7FfR6Cl/?img_index=1
Hudson already carries a housing burden that most upstate towns never come close to. Roughly 16.5 percent of all housing units in the city are subsidized or supportive, which means about one in six homes contribute little or nothing in property taxes. Compare that to the towns around us; Greenport is probably under 3 percent; Claverack and Germantown are closer to 1 percent; even Catskill sits around 5 to 7 percent. Only a full-scale city like Albany reaches Hudson’s level. For a city with barely 6,000 people, that is an enormous concentration.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is simple; the city still has to fund police, fire, DPW, water and sewer, schools, and every other service, even though a big share of the housing stock is tax-exempt or deeply discounted for assessment purposes. The result lands on the people who do pay: homeowners and market-rate landlords. There are fewer of us every year, and the bills keep rising.
Before the city signs on to another major HHA expansion, there needs to be an honest conversation about the fiscal impact. Hudson already carries more subsidized housing, on a percentage basis, than almost any town or small city in the region; adding hundreds more units without a plan to rebalance the tax load will squeeze the remaining taxpayers even harder. At some point the math stops working, and the people who keep the tax base afloat are the ones pushed out.
All on the eve of being about to approve the most unbalanced budget and highest tax increase ever. Sorry, we have more than our fair share and we’re tapped out.
Indeed UJ -
DeleteIf the city expands Bliss it also commits to higher spending on policing, fire, and schools.
Large public housing systems show why. In New York City, residents of public housing account for under 5 percent of the population but face roughly three times the citywide murder rate and about twice the rate of rape and felony assault. The gap has widened.
These residents are more likely to be victims of serious crime, which should concern anyone serious about safety.
If Hudson chooses that model, the police budget must grow faster than population because concentrated subsidised housing produces more calls and more serious incidents.
The Fire Department faces similar pressures. Taller structures require more expensive trucks.
HCSD, already failing by objective state metrics, would absorb more students without matching revenue.
Any vote to expand Bliss should include explicit funding, such as an additional 1 to 2 million dollars per year for HPD, with parallel commitments for fire and schools. The totality of cost should be weighed upfront, not piecemeal after the fact.
Supporting density without attaching these costs is a political fiction.
DePietro and others might (falsely) call any comment critical of public housing "white supremacist".
Is the real moral failure not perpetuating failed policies?
References
New study on rising violent crime in NYC public housing: https://manhattan.institute/article/new-study-violent-crime-rate-growing-in-nyc-public-housing
The small townhouse doesn't look too bad, they could knock down the low rise buildings and build a few of these. The gigantic structures are bad news.
ReplyDeleteOf course, there is the issue no one talks about. HHA has a history going back 50 years of mismanagement, corruption and failure to provide maintenance to both the building and inside residential units. Not to mention the criminality, drug dealing, shootings, beatings and other malfeasance that occurred at the property. Why any person with half a brain would approve an expansion managed by this organization defies rationality.
must be nice - unlike most residents - to have a guaranteed parking space.
ReplyDelete