For 25 years, the Rural Ulster Preservation Co. has been assisting low-income residents with their housing needs. Under the leadership of Executive Director Kevin O”™Connor, however, the nonprofit, whose offices are in Kingston, has a much broader mission: revitalizing communities. It turns out that providing affordable housing leads to all sorts of links with related issues, such as green building, restoration of historic residential and commercial buildings, and planning for smart growth.
Under O”™Connor RUPCO”™s staff has increased from 14 to 28 in the past five years. The group oversees a $3.3 million budget, and it has five lines of business: real estate development; property management; rental assistance; community development; and the NeighborWorks HomeOwnership Center, which provides subsidies to low-income home-owners. It currently assists 1,277 “vendors” ”“ individuals or families benefiting from its housing program.
The keynote for successful change is mixed development, said O”™Connor, who grew up in Hyde Park and currently resides with his family in New Paltz. “We”™re interested in exploring mixed-use and mixed-income projects,” he said. “We”™re trying to create community, not just provide for low-income folks. Our mandate has changed.”
The housing issue, for example, is closely tied to economic development. Housing costs remain high in Ulster County, thanks to its proximity to New York City, which is squeezing the middle class, as well as those at the bottom, O”™Connor said. “Ulster County needs to do a better job in planning and smart growth,” he said. “It needs to accommodate existing residents and plan for future growth. We”™re losing our 20- to 40-year-olds because the jobs aren”™t here.”
While many Ulster County residents are “rightfully concerned with the quality of life,” he said the desire to protect open space needs to be balanced with a discussion about how to plan for growth. The short answer: denser development centered around existing infrastructure. Locating new development in existing town and village centers preserves natural resources. Putting in energy-efficient systems, such as geothermal, is also planning for the future. While expensive to install, “green energy systems help long-term sustainability,” said O”™Connor, who predicted businesses and residents alike will be negatively impacted by the coming energy crunch.
RUPCO is following that model. Its proposed Woodland Commons, a 63-unit housing development on 7 acres, is an “infill” project in the town of Woodstock surrounded on three sides by development and utilizing town sewer and water, according to O”™Connor. It is within walking distance of the village. RUPCO proposed the project in 2005 and will be submitting the draft environmental impact statement next winter.
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A geothermal system, in which the ambient temperature of the ground is used to regulate heating and cooling, would be installed at Woodland Commons, precluding the use of fossil fuels. (O”™Connor said eventually he”™d like to install a solar energy system that would enable the development to be off the grid entirely.) Woodland Commons is one of 238 projects nationwide participating in the neighborhood development pilot of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program, an initiative of the nonprofit U.S. Green Bulding Council.
The project would combine housing units for sale and rent, with ownership an option for those at 80 percent of the median income level and rentals for those with less income. It would be targeted to both seniors and families.
In Kingston, RUPCO is nearing restoration of 97 Clinton St., an architecturally distinct, Gothic house in midtown that was abandoned. The new floor plan incorporates several affordable condos. It is also currently restoring the historic Kirkland Hotel uptown, which will have seven residential units upstairs (five affordable, two at market price), a restaurant and offices. A geothermal system is also being installed at that property.
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RUPCO itself is located nearby on the first floor of a handsome former 1930s hotel, which also is home to the Portabello restaurant, a popular dining spot, and 41 housing units, which serve a combination of people with disabilities, the homeless, and those with low income. The purchase and restoration of the former flophouse by the nonprofit was a factor in the revitalization of uptown Kingston. RUPCO also owns two older buildings elsewhere in the city, attractively rehabbed into low-income housing units.
In total, RUPCO owns or manages 172 buildings in the county, including 51 units of senior housing in Highland, O”™Connor said.
RUPCO”™s multipronged approach to healing urban ills is reflected in the diverse uses of $1.1 million in grant money it was recently awarded from the state Division of Housing and Community Renewal, including:
Ӣ a $500,000 grant to assist first-time home buyers with education, counseling and monetary assistance in paying for closing costs and down payments;
”¢ a $200,000 grant, jointly awarded to partner Resource Center for Accessible Living, which will provide funding for home modifications enabling a person with disabilities to stay in their home or move from an institution to a home; and
Ӣ two Main Street grants, one of which is $200,000, awarded to RUPCO in partnership with the village of Ellenville, which will fund fa̤ade improvements, renovations of residential units and streetscape enhancements. The second grant, also for $200,000, jointly awarded to the Kingston Mid-Town Business Association, is for similar initiatives on the Broadway corridor. In both cases, building owners must apply for the money and match it dollar to dollar.
O”™Connor said RUPCO has so far been awarded a total of five Main Street grants, including two for uptown. One of those is for the Kirkland and the other is for the Pike Plan, the wooden arcade on Wall and North Front streets that the city is restoring for $800,000. The $200,000 grant to RUPCO will help pay for a portion of the cost of replacing the flat roofs with slanting ones; new skylights; new electric lights; and restoration of the columns and planters.
In Ellenville, it also had received a previous grant, spent on similar street façade improvements as well repairs to the building occupied by the Shadowland Theater company, which serves as an anchor for the community.
All of these projects have made RUPCO a key player in downtown revitalizations. “We have a tremendous expertise in writing grants,” O”™Connor said. “We utilize numerous construction and rehabilitation companies and work with designers. You can”™t do housing in a vacuum.”
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