Since its inception in 1999, the Huntington Township Housing Coalition has played an important role in expanding affordable housing in Huntington. The Coalition’s voice articulating the plight of Huntington’s moderate-income and working-poor families has gained in volume, strength and numbers, to the point where the Town Board as well as state and county officials and Long Island housing advocates now acknowledge the Coalition as an important stakeholder in the affordable housing discussion both in Huntington and on Long Island
The Coalition has long supported apartments-above-stores (also known as C-6 zoning) as one option for expanding affordable housing in Huntington. Property owners used to be able to build these apartments with no affordability component. The HTHC fought to require all apartment above store development require a 20% affordable component, which was passed in 2017.
In 2017, the Coalition celebrated the grand opening of Highland Greens, an affordable limited-equity co-op that serves residents who seek and need rentals. Originally proposed in 2000, the Town Board adopted a resolution which stipulated that Ruland Road in Melville should be 114 one-bedroom units of affordable “family housing.” Because one-bedrooms are hostile to a family environment, a lawsuit was filed that dragged on for 10 years. The Coalition was at the forefront in supporting the idea of affordable housing for families, turning out speakers at Town Board meetings and organizing telephone, letter-writing and media campaigns in support of affordable rentals at Ruland. When Town Supervisor Frank Petrone suggested a compromise to create Limited Equity Cooperatives at Ruland, which would serve the same population as the affordable rental units, the Coalition lent its support to this plan which was adopted by the Town Board in February of 2014, and the development opened in 2017 as Highland Greens.
The Coalition has held Housing Summits in 2016, 2018, and plans another soon. They are typically attended by over 100 advocates, providers and government officials. We also presented to the Town Board our 2016 and 2018 Housing Surveys which helped drive action toward new legislation. Our 2020 report, “Housing Horizons 2030”, is the most detailed report on housing specific to Huntington. Using a $7,500 grant from the LI Community Foundation and Veach Foundation, along with other funds raised by the Coalition, a public-education campaign was launched in the fall of 2014 about the need for affordable rental housing in Huntington. Through these and other informational campaigns, the Coalition has assisted in changing the attitudes of both government and the public towards rentals and affordable housing.
The Coalition successfully worked for the passage of the Edwards-Berland Housing bill in 2017 which extends the affordable housing requirement to new commercial mixed-use developments. This closed a loophole in existing law that allowed creation of apartments in mixed-use developments with no requirement for affordable housing.
The HTHC fought for changes in the ADU law that allowed ADU’s in properties with shorter frontages. The change also allowed the homeowner to live in the ADU and rent out the larger part of the home which was previously illegal. At that time we agreed to disallow new basement apartments until a set of rules for their safety could be adopted, which we are now pursuing.
The Coalition was an active supporter of Avalon. During a two-year pubic controversy, the Coalition conducted several public meetings to educate the community about the project and to garner support for it. As opposition built to Avalon Bay, the Coalition led a broad coalition of community groups in support of the complex which, in 2012, was finally approved by the Town Board in a somewhat scaled down version, but with 20% of the units affordable, serving a range of incomes. AvalonBay opened in 2014.
Established in 2004, Millennium Hills in Melville consists of 84 units; 40 units are allocated to low rent public housing families, while 44 units are allocated to first time home owners from households ranging from 50 to 80 per cent of the area median income. The Coalition was successful in helping the Huntington Housing Authority that administers the public housing portion of the complex, to obtain a low interest loan from the Unitarian Universalist Church in Shelter Rock. These funds enabled the Housing Authority to purchase and resell vacated units, thereby extending the benefits of home ownership to more low income families.
Developed by Housing Help Inc., Matinecock Court is an affordable housing complex being built at the intersection of Pulaski and Elwood Roads in Greenlawn. The development is to be comprised of 146 100% affordable limited equity co-ops. The building of Matinecock Court will mark the culmination of over 40 years of multiple law suits, bureaucratic maneuvers and delay, bitter neighborhood protests, and intense controversy. In August 2002, the Town settled the last law suit, clearing the way for this unique plan that will serve as a prototype for future suburban affordable housing developments. Finally, the hopes and dreams of countless moderate and low income families desperate for quality, affordable housing, will be realized.
