| Subject: Do the Math |
Author:
Ned Depew
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Date Posted: 10:00:49 10/29/05 Sat
On the new Scaleranetti "affordable housing" proposal.
The Median Family Income for Hudson is a little under $30,000/year (or $2,500/month before taxes, about 2,100/month after taxes for a family that takes two child exemptions) With a three bedroom apartment in the Scaleranetti Arms renting for $750/month - that makes the rent about 40% of net income - 15% above the HUD reccomendation of 25%.
And that's for the MEDIAN income - not low income. The low income people are more typically earning closer to $15,000 - 20,000 /year before taxes - and they are the ones who really need the help. But they will be paying more than half of their net income at the rate proposed by these developers.
Affordable housing? Yes - for those who can already afford housing here.
But as a solution to providing decent housing to low-skilled, low-wage working familiies who are being driven out by the residential gentrification the Scaleranetti Team and their number one booster Eric Galloway have promoted, it means nothing.
On top of that, there is the issue of Ghettoization - concentrating "low income" housing in it's own little area, away from the gentirfied downtown, and insulated from the Mayor's own cozy little neighborhood.
Hudson has quite a bit of vacant land already (although Rick has given away dozens of lots to long-term tax-exempt uses and/or private developers including Galloway in the last year). Assisting responsible low-income families in building small multi-family (3-5 unit), owner-occupied housing on these lots would do far more to "revitalize" Hudson, to ensure a supply of desirable, affordable housing in the middle of the City's life (rather than on the fringe).
In the first place, this new decelopment plan smacks of the original proposal for "The Hudson Terraces" - which will come back to bite the City in the butt if the owners decide to cash in (as they are allowed to under the terms of their original agreement) and kick the low-income residents out in favor of other potentially more lucrative development.
Any agreement with developers should be looked at very carefully, not only with an eye to the short term effects, but also the long-range implications.
Judging by the outrageously bad "deals" the Scaleranetti Administration has already foisted off on the City of Hudson (The Three Building Monty Deal - including the sale of the Evans Hose Building at bargain basement prices and the building of the 4 Milion Dollar Boondoggle Hose Company Building; the give-away of more than 400 acres of prime City-owned land to Colarusso for a pittance on what amounts to a no-interest mortgage, to name just two) this deal should be given very close scrutiny before anyone hops on the bandwagon.
Low-income housing and a solution to truly affordable housing for those who really need it, it's not!
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