It would appear that the Hudson Catskill Housing Coalition and For the Many have been shopping the story of the very modest amendment being proposed for Hudson's short-term rental law to regional media. Yesterday, there was the report by Nora Michanec in the Times Union. Today, it's a feature on News 1o: "Hudson officials considering short term rental law."
At the Common Council meeting tonight, Rebecca Wolff, who back in 2020 when she served on the Council was effectively the author of the current legislation, urged the Council not to change the law but instead to strengthen it. In 2020, before the law was enacted, there were 200 properties operating as short-term rentals in Hudson. Today, there are 67 and perhaps even fewer. This decrease in short-term rentals seems, however, not to have had much effect on Hudson's perceived housing shortage.
COPYRIGHT 2026 CAROLE OSTERINK
Sadly, the sidewalk on that very block near the library where children walk, one week ago was COVERED with dog feces. There must be a very irresponsible dog owner near by.
ReplyDeleteGotta have headlines if you're going to solicit donations to pay yourself . . . to create headlines to solicit donations to pay yourself . . .. One wonders why the commissars continue to insist that curtailing property owners' rights will yield up more and affordable housing when the only new housing these policies have spawned are either unaffordable and sit empty, or exist only on paper (but sited on a flood plain and now likely mired in years of litigation). It seems simultaneously Trumpian and Orwellian to point out that those who oppose this amendment seem to reject science in favor of ideology without a second thought about how their proven-to-be-wrong ideas negatively affect actual people. That the opposition is "liberal" or "left" or "woke" or whatever the proper terminology is this week, only adds to the irony.
ReplyDeleteHudson Hypocrisy Never Misses:
ReplyDelete1. The local ordinance (law) failed to achieve the "desired" outcome.
2. Voters do not want this law, as evidenced by... checks notes
3. The main author (Rebecca Wolff) famously violating her own law
(Times Union: Claims of Airbnb hypocrisy rile up Hudson residents)
If Hudson wants more housing and wants existing residents to stay follow these steps:
A: Legalize/Restore "Missing Middle" Housing and make it easier to build ADUs. Fix zoning.
- Read more on Missing Missing Housing here; https://www.instagram.com/p/DKPX7FfR6Cl/?img_index=1
- And ADU/ Granny flats here: https://actionlab.strongtowns.org/hc/en-us/articles/11811993386900-Accessory-Dwelling-Units-ADUs-Core-Insights
B: Lower property and school taxes to help residents on fixed incomes stay in their homes.
If Hudson spent the same as Kinderhook and Claverack per resident, our budget would be closer to $10m than $20m per year.
C: Focus on creating jobs, attracting more companies like Taconic Biosciences , Ginsberg's, and new industry... right now the biggest employers are the failing public schools, local county government, (both sources of nepotism, discontent and sub-par outcomes) and the downsizing Columbia Memorial Hospital.
If we do not do that, the current trend will continue, and Hudson will become half public housing / welfare warriors, and half rich residents with remote jobs and globally derived income, while the hard-working middle class moves to Greenport with half of Hudson's taxes, no politics, and arguably more value.
Greenport is to Hudson what New Hampshire and Vermont is to Taxachusetts, cheaper and low drama, but all the benefit from your neighbor. (That one was for the Mayor 😘 )
~
Finally... why do we give more airtime to professional trouble makers like Quintin Cross or Sam Hodge, look at Kamal's "40 under 40"... where is the list of the dozen people in this County who have created a 100 high quality local jobs?
Ask any politician (ask Sam Hodge and Didi B tomorrow night) 1) what does Taconic Biosciences do? 2) what was the sales price of Ginsberg and number of employees at time of sale, and 3) which food service in Hudson has the most six figure and high five figure jobs.
Simply knowing that might lead to more similar outcomes.
Or, who, after Bard/Galvan, and Columbia County Gov (that does not pay property taxes) is the 2nd, and 3rd biggest property tax payer in Hudson... this one is telling.
~
Let's valorize those residents. Let's ask them what they need to create more good jobs.
If we can double the number of successful local entrepreneurs more people can afford the dozens of apartments currently sitting empty in Hudson.
Reference for Wolff hypocrisy:
https://www.timesunion.com/hudsonvalley/news/article/Airbnb-Hudson-Rebecca-Wolff-17144875.php
A Gossips reader alerted me that I was namechecked in a previous but related article's comments, complete with scare quotes around my job title. While I don't necessarily feel that I need to defend my record, so to speak, I do feel that Gossips readers are entitled to factual accuracy, and that the conversation around housing affordability and availability could stand to be expanded. Readers may also be unaware of many of the housing strategies and efforts underway beyond Hudson's boundaries. To that end:
DeleteCEDC pays one person (not "people like") to be the Housing Development Coordinator (no scare quotes necessary, that's my actual title). As far as I know, HCHC had little to nothing to do with creating this position; I've certainly never spoken with any of their representatives. Rather, the creation of this position was one of the recommendations that arose from the 2022 Columbia County Housing Forum (available here: https://us06web.zoom.us/rec/play/gD42TmX4QAzitL9kco-SJs_KCZ6RI7LNWKI_K2_yya1--NpVOrXEj2_3seE59dRhtxZTru6vdJPRkNmn.kkOHqrcJiiod064S?eagerLoadZvaPages=sidemenu.billing.plan_management&accessLevel=meeting&canPlayFromShare=true&from=share_recording_detail&continueMode=true&componentName=rec-play&originRequestUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fus06web.zoom.us%2Frec%2Fshare%2F-5R7nLzwTyRdl22722-KyEYwllcW2NrmhwChcUeL9-dx_UpWaJ_AZvZvi954W3UN.DmFY_qAXiJpwWa-g)
In a little over 3 years in this role I've brought a little under $3M in various housing-related funds into the county. Including $2M for the very ADUs HCS is championing and, most recently, about $250K to begin addressing problem properties like the one that was the subject of a previous Gossips post (https://gossipsofrivertown.blogspot.com/2026/01/a-tale-of-two-houses.html). I've also helped to form two county-wide organizations in the past few years; creating a county-wide organization was another of the Housing Forum recommendations.
It may interest HCS (and similarly-minded Gossips readers & commenters) to know that the founder of Strong Towns, the group often referenced for certain housing "solutions"* disagrees with the deregulatory, market-driven, supply-side perspective: https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2026-2-9-the-housing-debate-is-finally-catching-up-to-reality
*the quotes here are intentional as those of us who are professional housing practitioners understand that we don't deal in solutions; we deal in mitigation strategies
One of those mitigation strategies is making sure we have access to those programs and subsidies that can help fill the gap between what it costs to build housing units and how much homeowners and tenants can afford to pay for those housing units. Many of those programs, at the state level at least, are now tied to NYS Pro-Housing Community status. Columbia County is the only county in the state to have each and every one of its component municipalities achieve this certification. About half of those municipalities completed their own certifications; I completed the other half (with much-valued assistance from building departments throughout the county).
I'm always happy to welcome new attendees of the bi-monthly County Housing Task Force meetings, and/or readers may contact me directly at cbrown@columbiaedc.com. I'm also a Hudson resident and not particularly difficult to accidentally bump into. If anyone would like to have a conversation about the strategies described above or, better yet, how they can help, feel free to say hello.