Trainings for Municipal Officials

On Tuesday June 24, 2008 Better Housing hosted its 3^rd Municipal Training at the Holiday Inn of Ithaca with support from the Tompkins County Planning

Department. Thirty-six municipal zoning and planning members, town supervisors, and other county representatives joined in a roundtable discussion to explore the challenges and opportunities associated with developing affordable housing in Tompkins County . After enjoying a full sit down breakfast the attendees heard from a panel of housing developers. Presenters included: Andy Bodewes from Conifer Realty, Barb Lamphere from Two Plus Four Construction, Joe Bowes from Housing Opportunities Inc, Jack Jensen from Community Building Works! Inc., and Rusdi Sumner from Avalon Homes.  These presenters showcased existing affordable housing developments, plans to build new developments in the county, and also addressed common barriers they face as affordable housing developers.

One obstacle mentioned was building a development without a pre-existing municipal water or sewage line. It is much more difficult for developers to keep the cost of housing down because of the expense to install necessary infrastructure. Another obstacle affordable housing developers’ face is changing community perceptions about affordable housing. Many communities have misconceptions about what affordable housing developments look like and the types of people which live there. The presenters demonstrated to the attendees that affordable housing developments are in fact positively contributing to the community as they help low income residents, senior citizens, and the disabled to live in a safe and healthy community. 

Jeanne Leccese, Planner from the Tompkins County Planning Department, gave the audience an update on local progress that has been made in the county so far. Jeanne talked about alternative affordable home buying options such as the Community Housing Affordability Fund and Community Housing Trusts. The former is a fund from public and private sources to help fill funding gaps that are needed to keep housing units affordable and it assists non-profit housing developers with pre-development expenses. Community Housing Trusts make homes permanently more affordable to future low-income buyers. A Community Housing Trust separates the ownership of the home from the land. The land is held in a trust by a non-profit organization as a community resource but the house on the land may be sold to a homebuyer who leases the land on a long term basis. The home would be kept affordable through deed restrictions on resale and/or provisions to keep rents affordable. These are fairly new affordable housing strategies and generated a lot of discussion from the municipalities.

 

We received very positive feedback about the training. As one attendee stated, “It is encouraging to know that these developers know how to successfully implement affordable housing in the community. Hearing from them has been both interesting and informative.”

 

 

Please keep an eye out for news of upcoming trainings!