More than two dozen elected officials from cities, towns and villages in Westchester County participated in a Welcome Home Westchester training session on housing held at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University in White Plains. Welcome Home Westchester is a group that was formed to explore the housing shortage in Westchester and develop ways to do something about it.
The event at PACE had presentations and discussions on addressing the urgent housing needs in Westchester communities.
In his address, Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins acknowledged that “it’s a challenge where we are right now. The average house price in Westchester is $994,000. That’s just not affordable to most people, period.”
Maulin Mehta, New York director at Regional Plan Association, provided statistics showing that the county’s housing shortfall currently is about 21,000 units. He noted that at the current growth rate, Westchester County is on track to being short at least 44,000 units and possibly as much as 77,000 housing units by 2040.
Michael Romita, president and CEO of the Westchester County Association, and Jan Fisher, executive director of Nonprofit Westchester emphasized the importance of smart development and housing the workforce that keeps Westchester’s economy afloat.
According to Fisher, “We are never going to have true economic and workforce development unless we have an open, accessible, real commitment to housing for everyone.”
Tiffany Zezula, deputy director at the Land Use Law Center at PACE advised municipal leaders to use state and local tools to analyze their communities’ individual housing needs, while representatives from the villages of Briarcliff Manor and Port Chester discussed the benefits their communities have enjoyed from building more housing.
Francis “Frank” Ferrara, chairman of the Port Chester Industrial Development Agency said, “Housing shouldn’t be viewed on an island. We want to benefit both the community and new neighbors we’re bringing in.”
Briarcliff Manor Mayor Steven Vescio said that maintaining the quality of life in Westchester communities can and should be done simultaneously with housing growth.
Vescio said, “We, as government officials, need to find ways to relieve the tax burden or no one will want to live here.”
