The Daily Catch

Red Hook Town Board Seeks Nine Residents for New Committee to Tackle Local Housing Crunch



Image by Sébastien Thibault

The Red Hook Town Board will begin accepting applications from residents to serve on the newly created nine-member housing committee that will address the growing middle-class housing crunch. 

The so-called Red Hook Housing Committee will be tasked with identifying the housing concerns of local residents, helping shore up the supply of affordable housing units, as well as identifying housing for middle-class families and rental units through state and local housing grants. It will also provide housing education to first-time homebuyers and renters. 

The committee will function purely as an advisory group to the Town Board. Like other committees advising the Board, it does not have the power to pass local laws or zoning amendments. Of the members, five will serve three-year terms and four will serve two-year terms, Town Supervisor Robert McKeon said at a meeting Wednesday. The committee will meet on a monthly basis and present progress reports to the Town Board. 

McKeon said the town is seeking committee participation from residents with experience working in social services, rural and urban planning, real estate, and grant writing. Insight from residents who have experienced the housing crunch first-hand could also, he said, prove invaluable. 

“I think it’s very important that we have an individual with some firsthand experience with housing insecurity in the community, somebody who can give us the type of insight you only get from being in that position,” said McKeon.

The board agreed to give the housing committee a three-year life to start, with the likelihood the group will be renewed after that. Residents who wish to apply to serve on the committee can email individual Town Board members or Town Clerk Deanna Cochran at townclerk@redhook.org

The establishment of the committee follows the March release of the 2022 Dutchess County Housing Needs Assessment, a 60-page report that highlights a record housing shortage across the county and prescribes steps towns like Red Hook can take to shore up their housing stock. The report found that the biggest issue facing prospective homebuyers and renters is that there simply are not enough homes for residents across the county. Compounding that issue is that residents earning between $35,000 and $50,000 annually are getting squeezed by higher home and rental prices, the report found. (Read more about the report.)

“This is a critically important issue for the town,” said Bill Hamel, a Town Board member. 

Others said they feel the housing crunch is here to stay. 

“My personal feeling is that there probably is an ongoing need for a standing committee on this topic,” said Town Board member Julia Solomon. “I think it’s an issue in the town that will not be going away.”

Member Jacob Testa concurred. ‘These (housing) issues aren’t going to go away in a couple of years.”

The new housing committee is also being created as the Town Board seeks to overhaul Red Hook’s 29-year-old comprehensive plan, which was used to justify a late 2021 law that outlawed dozens of Airbnbs late last year, in an effort Town Board members maintained would help free up housing for long-term renters (read our coverage). 

Board member Christine Kane noted the importance of addressing housing concerns in tandem with recrafting the town’s so-called “Master Plan,” which will put forth a vision of what Red Hook should look like in the coming decade. “We did just put the grant in for the comprehensive plan and a lot of what this (housing) committee is doing could be helpful for that,” said Kane. She added, “I’m so happy we are getting started on tackling this issue.” 

One response to “Red Hook Town Board Seeks Nine Residents for New Committee to Tackle Local Housing Crunch”

  1. Imari Armstrong says:

    In Poughkeepsie, we are also dealing with increasing rent. When short-term leases run out, landlords often increase the rent. So many people are moving South in search of lower living expenses.

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