Musings: Smart growth may save Suffolk homes for all
If owners could rent portions of their homes, it could limit housing cost increases for renters and homebuyers. Credit: Kevin P. Coughlin
Every town in Suffolk County is staring down the barrel of a generational affordability crisis. Home prices in Suffolk County, which averaged $326,800 in 2015, have since skyrocketed to an average of $640,000. While home prices have nearly doubled, median household income has risen by less than half as much.
For those looking to rent, the situation isn’t much better. A dearth of rental units throughout western Suffolk ensures that demand always outpaces available supply. Even in traditionally working-class communities such as Farmingville, Brentwood, or Copiague, the average rent is well above 30% of the average Suffolk County inflation-adjusted hourly wage, which Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies defines as the threshold for cost-burdened renting.
As for the East End, most rental opportunities are geared for those affluent enough to vacation in or around the world-famous Hamptons, leaving prospective long-term residents with few opportunities to find affordable accommodations.
This trend is unsustainable, as it drives out young people who call our communities home, deprives local businesses of a sufficiently sized market for operation, and places a growing property tax burden on the households that remain.
We have an opportunity to reverse course and preserve the community character that really matters: our people. By allowing for strategic development of multifamily housing units in unused commercial spaces, encouraging mixed-use development opportunities in our vibrant downtowns, and offering willing homeowners the opportunity to rent out portions of their homes as accessory dwelling units or duplexes, we can make progress in the vein of Austin, Texas, which has used smart development strategies to limit housing cost increases for both renters and prospective homeowners.
Solving this problem will require vision, resolve, and a willingness to say “Yes” to a wider variety of housing development. It will also require our local leadership to value creating opportunities for affordable living.
— Steven Basileo, St. James
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