Westchester putting up $3M to help Mamaroneck develop affordable housing

During an event in Mamaroneck this morning, Westchester County Executive George Latimer announced that the county is committing $3 million toward helping the Town of Mamaroneck build more affordable housing. Town officials joined representatives of the administration and Board of Legislators for an event during which an oversized check was presented to the town that represented the funds that will be provided.

“The project itself is still very much in the stages of being worked through by the town,” Latimer said. “Our responsibility as a county government is to make sure the opportunity for affordable housing is always there, and that includes assisting our local municipalities through the development process.”

Latimer said that under his administration, the county has developed 2,500 units of affordable housing with 4,000 more in the pipeline including whatever Mamaroneck winds up developing.

Mamaroneck Town Supervisor Jaine Elkind Eney praised the county for helping fund Mamaroneck’s need for flood relief and road paving. She said that the affordable housing funding from the county will be used to help subsidize land costs for a future development. She did not provide details of any particular affordable housing project is in the works. However, the village has been looking into redeveloping the site of the Hunter Tier Parking Lot at 141 Prospect Ave. across from Village Hall into affordable housing. The village issued a Request for Proposals for the possible project.

Washingtonville Housing Alliance and its parent organization Westhab Inc. had proposed a 77-unit six-story affordable apartment building for the parking lot and garage site. BRP Development Partners and Hyperion Group together with Luna Collective LLC proposed a 187-apartment development that would serve a range of affordability levels from 30% of the Area Median Income (AMI) to 120% of AMI.

A report on affordable housing in Mamaroneck prepared by the village’s planning staff stated, “Unless action is taken to stabilize and safeguard the continued production of new affordable housing in he village and the larger surrounding region, Mamaroneck’s racial and socioeconomic diversity and the fairness of its housing market are threatened.”