POUGHKEEPSIE – Hundreds of affordable rental units are expected to be created or preserved over the next few years with support from Dutchess County’s new Housing Trust Fund, addressing the housing access gaps identified in the county’s Housing Needs Assessment completed last year.
The county will award $8.9 million in ARPA funds for six affordable rental housing projects through the initial funding round of the trust fund’s Housing creating and Preservation program.
County Executive Bill O’Neill said the program was created to be “a flexible and nimble funding source” to incentivize and encourage smart housing growth in the county.
“If we were to give the funding to all eight based on the current projections that would produce about 600 rentals. I will caveat that by saying the projects have to be completed. We’re not giving people money and then letting them maybe not deliver. You have to built it and then we will reimburse you,” he said.
The $8.9 million will be awarded to:
- Wallace Campus, Main Street, City of Poughkeepsie, $2.2 million, for new construction, along with renovation of the former Wallace Department Store, creatin 187 apartments
- 9-13 Noxon Street, City of Poughkeepsie, $1.9 million to rehabilitate an existing boardinghouse with 16 single-room-occupancy units
- Two Cross Street, Main Street and Cross Street, City of Beacon, $1.57 million, for new construction and rehab of an existing building to create 18 units of downtown Beacon affordable housing
- Alpine Commons Apartments, Route 9, Town of Wappingers, $1.5 million for new construction of affordable units
- Schatz Redevelopment, Fairview Avenue, Town of Poughkeepsie, $1.46 million for environmental remediation of the former Schatz Bearing Company property to accommodate 250 apartments
- Smith Street Apartments, Smith Street, City of Poughkeepsie, $346,000 for new construction of a three-unit home.
The new rental units will be available to households making 30 percent to 80 percent of the Dutchess County Area Media Income.
