POUGHKEEPSIE – At Monday’s Poughkeepsie Common Council meeting, lawmakers heard pleas from two activist groups seeking changes to housing in the city. Community Voices Heard and For the Many lobbied the council to redirect money in the 2023 budget to perform a vacancy study of available housing while also seeking American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds to be redirected to rent relief programs for city tenants.
Council Majority Leader Evan Menist criticized the administration’s use of ARP money to invest in the city’s parks as “wrong.” While stating the need for rent relief, Menist said investing in the park system is improper, “Unless you want people to live in the parks. That is already happening.”
Menist also railed for the need for all types of housing, including a mix of market rate and affordable housing. He suggested that the council finds ways to incentivize the building of affordable housing.
Councilwoman Megan Deichler expressed her dissatisfaction with available housing in the city, calling it “inhuman and unacceptable.” Councilwoman Debra Long singled out Poughkeepsie-based Baxter Development, saying the company is developing several properties in the city and “it needs to stop.”
