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Here is the full program, with all speakers finalized, for the important November 19th summit: “Keeping Our Young People in Huntington: The Need for Affordable Rental Housing and Downtown Revitalization.”  The summit will be held at the Cinema Arts Centre on Park Avenue in Huntington from 8:30 AM to 12 Noon. If you would like to register for the program go to: www.hthcsummit.eventbrite.com.  There is no charge for admission. Here is the link to the full program: hthc-rental-housing-summit-program_0001    

Registration is now open for the November 19, 2016 housing summit: Keeping Our Young People in Huntington The Need for Affordable Rental Housing and Downtown Revitalization Registration and attendance are free,but it will help us to plan if you could please register in advance. Register now @www.hthcsummit.eventbrite.com

The Huntington Township Housing Coalition, in association with the League of Women Voters of Huntington, is sponsoring a housing summit on November 19th at the Cinema Arts Centre in Huntington.  Titled “Keeping Our Young People in Huntington…The Need for Affordable Rental Housing and Downtown Revitalization”, the summit will have speakers including town officials, businesses, and local civic associations.  For more details see the flyer: HTHC rental housing summit SAVE THE DATE flyer

At the  June 23rd Huntington Housing Coalition General Membership meeting, we announced an opportunity for affordable housing that shows great promise.  Responding to the Huntington 2020 Master Plan’s call for development of an integrated land-use plan for the  Melville Corridor, the Town hired a  company that, with community input, developed a Melville Employment Center plan suggesting re-zoning that would shift the area from exclusive commercial to mixed use, including the possible creation of 495 residential units. In the past several weeks, we have met with Supervisor Frank Petrone and then with Huntington staff who helped develop the plan.  In our conversation with Supervisor Petrone, we pointed out that the current Huntington Homes Law  requires a 20% affordable housing set aside ONLY when a residential property is downzoned – meaning it is rezoned for higher density, say from one acre to multi-family housing.  The Law does not apply when a property is rezoned from commercial to mixed use that includes residential.  Supervisor Petrone agreed with us that the Law could be amended so that the affordable housing requirement would apply in such situations, such as the Melville plan. Last night we received a unanimous vote at the General Membership meeting for our Coalition to move forward advocating for this change in the Huntington Homes Law. We are currently in discussion with Town officials about language that might be used in the amendment.  We are also planning a meeting  with Town officials and other stakeholders to discuss the inclusion of affordable family housing in the Melville plan.   This is one of the most important affordable housing developments that we have seen. Here is the link to the current edition of the LI Business News cover story on the Melville plan http://libn.com/2016/06/24/melville-makeover/ and here is the link  to the plan itself: www.huntingtonny.gov/mec We will keep you informed as the Melville process goes forward.  As of now, we will not have a General Membership meeting in July.  Our next General Membership meeting will be at 6:30PM on Monday, September 26th at the Dolan Family Health Center.

Attention all prospective First Time Home Buyers! Suffolk County will be announcing their First Time Home Buyer grant program in early September.  You could be eligible for a $14,000 grant towards a down payment on your first home. Housing Help Inc. is authorized by Suffolk to provide the required Pre-Purchase education in order to qualify for the grant.  If you are interested in the program call Susan at 631-754-0373 for details.

The Huntington Township Housing Coalition has consistently supported the Renaissance Downtowns economic revitalization goals for Huntington Station.  We have consistently argued that attainable rental housing for young people and seniors should be a part of this economic revitalization.  At the same time, we believe that affordable rental housing, for young people, seniors and especially families, needs to be created in all parts of the Town of Huntington. Here is our letter to the Town Board and Zoning Board of Appeals that was sent on April 1st and published in the April 7 edition of The Long Islander HTHC Renaissance letter April 2016.

Harvard sociologist Matthew Desmond has published a new study, “Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City,” that is being hailed as a seminal work on how the lack of affordable housing is ruing the lives of low-income Americans.  On February 12th, 2106, The New York Times reviewer wrote: “After ‘Evicted,’ it will no longer be possible to have a serious discussion about poverty without having a serious discussion about housing. Like Jonathan Kozol’s ‘Savage Inequalities,’ or Barbara Ehrenreich’s ‘Nickeled and Dimed,’ or Michelle Alexander’s ‘The New Jim Crow,’ this sweeping, years-long project makes us consider inequality and economic justice in ways we previously had not.”  On March 6th, Professor Desmond wrote a compelling essay in The Times which documents some of his key findings. This is a must read for Coalition supporters and all people of good will who care about homelessness and the suffering caused by the lack of safe and affordable housing options for poor people.  The article can be accessed here: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/06/opinion/sunday/the-eviction-economy.html?_r=0

Newsday reported on December 17th, 2015 that a just-released study by the Long Island Index found that Long Islanders are growing more accepting of multi-family hosing options, instead of the traditional single family home that has dominated our landscape.  “Nearly 30 percent of Island respondents would like to live in an apartment, condominium or town house within five years – double the number who live in such housng types now.”  In addition, the survey found that 60percent of Long islanders (compare with 49 percent of Northern New York and Connecticut suburbs) said that “the lack of affordable hosing is a very or extremely serious problem in their area.”  This shift in public opinion is significant. Our elected officials who are wed to single-family ownership homes and who oppose multi-family housing need to catch up with their constituents. Here is the link to the Newsday story: http://www.newsday.com/business/liers-grow-more-supportive-of-downtown-apartments-survey-1.11233218

The Regional Plan Association in conjunction with the LI Community Foundation has produced a hosing profile for each town and village on Long Island.  This report is can be found at the website of  the newly-formed Long Island Attainable Housing Task Force  of St. Joseph’s College.  HTHC has a seat on this task force.  You can access the full report and then scroll down to the Town of Huntington.  It’s worth a visit.  For openers, only 15% of Huntington’s housing stock is rental housing compared with 18% for Suffolk County and 38% for Westchester County.  We have a lot of work to do!   Here is the link to the report: http://www.sjcny.edu/long-island/communitysolutions/attainablehomes HTHC will use this report to provide detailed look at Town of Huntington housing needs,