At the meeting of the Housing Trust Fund Board yesterday, only one member of the board was present: Margaret Morris, who as Common Council president is an ex officio member. There are currently only three confirmed members of the committee, two of whom are ex officio members: Morris and Jeffrey Dodson, the executive director of the Hudson Housing Authority. The third member is Usha Berlin, who has served on the Housing Trust Fund Board since its beginning in 2022.
The board is intended to have from six to nine members, so at least three new members are needed. Candidates must live in Hudson, be at least 18 years old, and have some interest in or knowledge of housing issues. (When the board was first formed, having "some experience in managing funds" was a requirement for membership.) Those wanting to be considered for the Housing Trust Fund Board should submit a letter of interest to Housing Justice Director Michelle Tullo at housing@cityofhudson.org. New members of the Housing Trust Fund Board are appointed by the board of Hudson Community Development and Planning Agency (HCDPA).
An overview of the Housing Trust Fund, published in 2022, can be found here. That document describes the mission of the Hudson Trust Fund in this way:
To preserve and create affordable rental units and homeownership opportunities in the City of Hudson so that all our residents, especially the most vulnerable, have access to stable housing
At this point, it seems the Housing Trust Fund's primary function is providing emergency rental assistance through the Hudson Roots program, managed by Greater Hudson Promise Neighborhood, for which about $50,000 is budgeted annually. Strangely, no information about the program could be found either on the City of Hudson website or the Greater Hudson Promise Neighborhood website.
At the meeting yesterday, Michelle Tullo cited "goal setting" as one of the tasks of the Housing Trust Fund Board. These are the goals that were set in 2022 and memorialized in the overview:
- To prevent displacement of residents and to preserve livability for all household types by helping provide a full range of housing choices throughout the City for all incomes, ages, and household sizes
- To mitigate the cost of housing, particularly for low- and moderate-income households
- To increase the supply of affordable housing
- To meet existing and anticipated housing and employment needs within the City
It would be helpful if someone knowledgeable about the work of the Board could tell us of its accomplishments over the past 4 years. Michelle?
ReplyDeleteThank you.
- Tullo is non compliant on FOILs on Hudson Roots.
ReplyDelete- Tullo is paid more than the Mayor of Hudson, the Wharton educated CFO / Treasurer, the (former mayor) Mayoral Aide, the revenue generating Code Enforcement Officer, likely more than 2/3s of City employees. (numbers from last year)
Housing Trust Funds treat the symptom (high prices) rather than the disease (a severe lack of supply).
Housing symptom and disease are largely national (mortgage interest rate, immigration, fed subsidies, tariffs, decades of underbuilding).
The only local City of Hudson controlled levers are property and school taxes, and zoning / some regulations. Auctioning off the delinquent properties to get developers more surface areas. Some would say rent control, but Hudson pulled that lever in the (empirically proven) wrong direction.
Which elected officials are fighting to lower taxes and update City zoning?
p.s. It would be peak Hudson if Tullo replaces Chris Brown at the CEDC.