Assistance

The HAC team has extensive experience working and supporting municipalities, not-for-profits and developers across the region to meet housing needs through developing and implementing smart and effective housing policies and plans, regulations, and strategies.

Housing Action Plans

We have experience developing municipal housing action plans focused on long-term strategies to preserve and develop affordable housing. These housing plans have included an analysis of housing and demographics characteristics, housing and rental prices and trends overtime, housing supply and affordability challenges in the community, and a set of context specific quantitative and qualitative goals, policies, and actions related to preserving and increasing the supply of affordable housing in the community. Many of the housing plans developed embrace a framework that includes, not only a comprehensive set of regulatory, financial, and zoning reforms aimed at meeting diverse housing needs, but also economic development strategies that strengthen policy recommendations. All studies by our team are based upon quantitative data as well as extensive community outreach to current residents, housing developers, property owners, governmental representatives, and housing policy advocates. Stakeholder meetings, surveys, virtual listening sessions, along with public workshops are used to gather input from residents regarding their needs and challenges. Policy recommendations are based on the findings from the housing needs assessment and carefully vetted for their financial feasibility and regulatory requirements. All housing plans have entailed extensive evaluation of various current housing policies as well as best practices in housing and community development from communities throughout the United States. Below is a list of the variety of Housing Plans accomplished by our team:

Ossining Housing Policy Framework
Yonkers Housing Policy Framework
Newburgh Housing Policy Framework

Housing Messaging, Outreach, and Education

The team has over 20 years of experience conducting effective community outreach that builds community support for innovative housing policies that support the development of affordable and workforce housing. Our team has developed a multitude of housing needs assessment, comprehensive plans, and neighborhood revitalization plans crafted upon public input and outreach in a variety of creative ways, including pop-up events, walking tours, webinars, workshops, online meetings, and focus groups. Additionally, the team has worked closely both in the formation and consultation of a variety of local affordable housing committees and advocacy groups in Westchester County. This support has included outreach campaigns through educational seminars, trainings, and positive messaging strategies for housing initiatives.

Examples of past work include:

Regional educational forums for Non-Profit Westchester; Welcome Home Westchester; Westchester County Association; NY State Council of Churches; Rockland & Dutchess Land Use Leadership Alliance Training on Housing
Dobbs Ferry Public Educational Workshop on Affordable Housing
Croton on Hudson Public Forum on Affordable Housing
Supportive services on housing outreach and education to Affordable Housing Committees in Dobbs Ferry; Hastings on Hudson; Bedford; Pound Ridge; Mamaroneck; Croton on Hudson; Somers; Yorktown; Hillsdale
Public Engagement leaders in various Comprehensive and Neighborhood Planning efforts, including Town of New Castle; Town of Ossining; Village of Tarrytown; Village of Ardsley; Town of Mount Pleasant; Town of Bedford; Town of Mamaroneck; City of Albany West Hill West End Neighborhood Revitalization; Poughkeepsie Distressed Property and City Center Revitalization Plan
Public Engagement leaders in various Housing Needs Studies, including City of Yonkers, City of Newburgh, and currently City of Norwalk

Community Planning, Site Design, and Data Analysis

The team has experience developing housing action plans, housing components in comprehensive plans, and housing-related studies that help inform smart and effective housing policies and strategies. This also includes conducting housing sites inventories to identify vacant and underutilized non-vacant sites zoned for residential development and experience developing Request for Concepts (RFC) and Request for Proposals (RFP) that can be used to solicit conceptual development proposals for specific sites for new housing development. The team has been the technical advisor to numerous municipalities through support from Westchester County for over 20 years. This has included assistance and guidance in site feasibility based on local code requirements, acquisition, and construction costs; preparation or review of development and operating budgets; options for securing site control; and assistance in identifying the need for other professionals (ie: surveyors, engineers, architects, etc.). Team projects have included:

Mission-based Affordable Housing Program under which technical assistance is provided to mission-based organizations in Westchester, Rockland and Orange counties such as houses of worship to evaluate their surplus and underutilized properties for the development of housing. Current clients include Chester Agricultural Center in Orange County, United Methodist Churches in Westchester County, House of Refuge in Newburgh and St. Matthew’s Church in Hastings.
Poughkeepsie Distressed Property Project which included conducting a distressed and vacant property inventory and the creation of a vacant and distressed property registry which led to the Poughkeepsie City Center Revitalization Plan, Main Street Economic Development Plan and later the rezoning of the downtown.
Newburgh Distressed Property Initiative and Development of Land Bank (see sample project description below)
City of Albany West Hill West End Neighborhood Revitalization Plan
Housing components of the Town of New Castle Comprehensive Plan, Village of Ardsley Comprehensive Plan, and currently the Town of Mamaroneck Comprehensive Plan

Zoning, Land Use, and Building Regulations

The team has extensive experience conducting comprehensive analyses and updates to municipal zoning codes that supports more ranges of housing options and experience developing land use regulations to support the development of affordable, low-income, and workforce housing. This includes development and assistance in:

City of Newburgh Rental License Law
Development of Somers ADU Ordinance (ongoing)
Croton’s development of an Affordable Housing Floating Zone (ongoing)
Croton’s Rental License Registry (ongoing)
Kingston Code Reform (ongoing)
Poughkeepsie Form-Based Code
Peekskill Affordable Housing Ordinance
Village of Ossining’s Affordable Housing Ordinance

Local Government Services and Programming

The Pace LULC has been hired by Dutchess County for the past 8 years to work with municipalities to analyze and update the development approval process to allow for more certainty and clarity for developers or individuals planning projects in the municipality. The Pace LULC has worked with over 10 communities under this effort. This has included conducting an initial evaluation and analysis of the existing land development process by reviewing local laws, website, forms, administrative processes and procedures; conducting board, staff, and applicant scoping sessions to distill the preliminary list of challenges and develop processes for creating a strategy to tackle the most critical challenges; conducting work sessions with municipal staff, consultants and land use board members to identify opportunities for improvements to address the challenges; and developing a preliminary strategy implementation plan that outlines streamlining options and recommendations for short and long term actions for the municipality to consider and work on collaboratively.

HAC has helped a variety of local governments develop, launch, and administer local housing-related programs (e.g., ADU support programs, housing rehabilitation programs, grant support services). Initiatives have included:

Streamlining Services in the following communities: Town of Poughkeepsie, City of Poughkeepsie, Town of Rhinebeck, Town of Hyde Park, Village of Millerton, Town of Northeast, and Town of Milan
Village of Milan: Implementing the Housing Component of the Comprehensive Plan
Design and implementation of a Home Purchase Program and a Rental Assistance Program in City of Yonkers
Administer inclusionary zoning programs in Town of East Fishkill, City of New Rochelle, Village of Rye Brook
Designed and implemented an Affirmative Marketing Program for County of Westchester
Managed the Request for Qualifications and selection process for an affordable housing development on municipally owned land in the Village of Ossining.

Tarrytown Housing Fund

Developers and non-profits interested in developing affordable housing in Tarrytown, should contact us to learn more about the Tarrytown Housing Fund, which set aside fund to incentivize the creation of affordable housing in the village.

To learn more, contact rnoonan@affordablehomes.org.