MID-HUDSON – County leaders predict housing as being the biggest challenge to the Mid-Hudson region coming out of the COVID pandemic.
During a Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress virtual meeting on Thursday, Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan said there needs to be infrastructure improvements, which in turn could help relieve the housing crisis happening in his county.
The Mid-Hudson region is experiencing an influx of individuals migrating from New York City to acquire housing away from the area because of the pandemic, but it is influencing the availability and price of domiciles for locals.
Ryan said especially individuals who have been front-line workers should have the ability to live within the communities they have protected.
“This is going to hold everything back,” said Ryan. “This is the limiting factor economically. If people can’t afford to live here they’re not going to come and work here. They’re not going to relocate their business here. They’re not going to invest here, so I think this is a thing that we all need to do more work on as a region,” he said.
Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro agreed that housing is the greatest issue facing the region, but it’s possible to take advantage of the influx of homebuyers if the federal government will come to a decision on infrastructure improvement funding. Molinaro said it could allow for local municipalities to develop and create density where it is needed and avoid it where it isn’t.
“We need that housing ladder,” said Molinaro. “That’s, by the way, at the bottom, those who were forced out of homes during housing instability and during homelessness: we need new models because trapping people in homelessness for their lives is not healthy, it’s not productive and it’s not working. It’s homelessness, into transitional, into accessible, into affordable, but then we need the middle income and higher-end luxury because we need to be able to give that housing ladder opportunity to everybody,” he said.
Ryan said a new Pilot program has been launched to address this issue within Ulster County. 100 residents will receive $500 per month as part of a Universal Basic Income program, beginning in the next few weeks. Ryan said the county will study the results to see how this resident funding will affect the housing crisis and other quality-of-life issues.
