Affordable housing in Sullivan? Not much

County addresses rental unit crisis

By Zoey McGee | Manor Ink

Sullivan County, NY – The lack of affordable housing is a significant local, statewide and national issue. Sullivan County has a complicated housing market, where many households now struggle to find affordable homes or rentals. The crucial issue is when the earning median or average income is insufficient to afford typical home costs.

These issues are not new, and the lack of affordable rental housing has resulted from many economic and demographic trends over several decades. For instance, The New York Times recently reported on a housing study in New York City that showed only 1.4 percent of the city’s rental units were actually available, with the availability of lower-cost apartments being under 1 percent. These are the lowest rates in over 50 years. However, with increasing complexity, a range of forces have affected housing demands more recently, including here in Sullivan County.

Factors influencing the market

The Sullivan County Comprehensive Housing Strategies Study from September 2022 outlined three main influences. One is the seasonal and recreational role the county’s housing plays because it is located in the beautiful Catskill Mountains. According to the study, there were 50,966 housing units in the county, and only 56 percent were tenanted by local residents. This means that short-term rentals for vacation housing took out nearly half of the properties.

The second influence is Sullivan County’s role in providing homes for those working out of the county. Making this more and more a factor is that Sullivan is only two hours from the nation’s largest metropolitan economy. From 2002 to 2019, the number of Sullivan County residents who commute to jobs outside the county nearly doubled and now exceeds the number of in-county employees.

Along the same lines, there is a lack of affordable rental homes for those who plan to reside and work in Sullivan County. Sims Foster, co-owner of Foster Supply Hospitality, explained that available housing is part of the equation when hiring employees who will need to relocate.

“The question comes up about what the housing stock looks like, what the availability of rents are, and certainly there is not a lot of inventory available,” Foster said.

In response to the issue, FSH has bought a couple of houses that they use for temporary housing for their employees. “So someone can relocate and stay there for a short period while they find a more permanent place. Which has been very helpful,” Foster added.

The third influence is the effects of the COVID 19. The pandemic not only caused inflation, but the influx of new residents to the county during that time spiked home sale prices and greatly increased rental demand.

Addressing these issues and moving the market in a direction making it more likely to meet the county’s various housing needs will take time. It will also take a lot of well-coordinated efforts to determine and meet the needs of each area of the county.

Evaluating Sullivan’s housing market

In the housing study, it was found that Sullivan County has four distinct market areas. “Rural South/East,” including the towns of Forestburgh, Lumberland and Mamakating, had the lowest poverty rate, with the average household income being $110,000 per year. The “Outer Core,” containing Liberty, Bethel, Thomson and Fallsburg, had the second lowest poverty rate, with the average household making about $84,000 annually.

The Town of Rockland is part of the “Rural North/West” market area, along with Neversink, Callicoon, Tusten and Cocheton. This area’s average annual income is about $76,000, with a poverty rate of 13 percent. The study explained that while the “Rural North/West” area has demographics similar to the “Rural South/East,” the average household income is much lower. “This may reflect a more insular housing market that draws less interest from commuters,” the study said.

The pandemic played a significant role in increasing housing prices. It was found that from 2019 to 2022, the average sales price of a home in the “Rural North/West” market area increased by 61 percent. “The prevailing affordability of Sullivan County to prospective homebuyers who earn typical Sullivan County incomes – even in the face of pandemic-era price increases and tight inventories – is a sign that the market is much softer than it appears at first glance,” said the study.

Manor Ink researched the available rentals in Livingston Manor and found some interesting information.

Rentals in the Manor

Hemlock Ridge, the subsidized housing complex near Livingston Manor Central School, has the most rentals in town, with 60 residential apartments ranging from one to three bedrooms. All residents must be income-eligible.

Initially constructed in 1972, the complex was completely rebuilt and renovated in 2015. On visiting the complex, it was clear that it is well maintained, and residents said they were delighted to live there. Unfortunately, there are currently no available apartments, and there is a long waitlist. Still, Bernadette Tirpak, the onsite property manager, said families should not be discouraged from applying because many on the list have often found other housing.

Then, after consulting Zillow, the real estate website, it was found that only three other rentals are currently listed in Livingston Manor: a 650-square-foot apartment on Main Street for $2,000 per month, a 3,000-square-foot house on Grooveville Road for $3,995 per month, and a 1,300-square-foot house on Cabin Trail for $3,000 per month.

Typical households in Sullivan County rent for between $1,000 and $2,000 per month, an affordable range for those making between $36,000 and $50,000 per year. According to the survey taken of county residents for the housing study, “55 percent of respondents reported spending 30 percent or more of their monthly incomes on housing costs, which meets the definition of being cost-burdened. However, only 10 percent of respondents said they receive some form of assistance to meet their housing needs. In other words, for every five persons who could technically use some assistance, only one is actually receiving it.”

The fourth market area is the “Core Villages,” consisting of Liberty and Monticello, where the average income is about $52,000 per year, and 68 percent of people rent. So the demand for affordable rentals in this area is very high. Efforts are underway to try to increase the rental stock.

Adding more affordable housing

The Sullivan County Land Bank works to acquire abandoned, foreclosed, tax-delinquent, deteriorated and unused properties, reclaiming and restoring them while often working with third parties, according to Jill Weyer, chairperson of the Board of Trustees of the Land Bank.

For instance, the Land Bank has acquired Monticello Manor, an old, abandoned hospital and nursing home at 15 High Street in Monticello. It is in the process of working with a developer to renovate the building as affordable housing. The Land Bank acquired the hospital through the county’s foreclosure system after taxes on the property had not been paid, and it had been unoccupied since 2008. Eventually, the five buildings on the site will have 50 to 60 rental units.

The other project being conducted in Monticello is redeveloping the Strong and Key Bank buildings at 430 and 418 Broadway. “We just got a grant to do a feasibility study on what kind of community space or cultural facility it could be,” explained Weyer. “And we are working to get it to a place where a developer would come in and hopefully take it over.” Plans for the buildings include 16 housing units as well as commercial spaces.

The Land Bank has also added three new affordable single-family homes on formerly vacant lots. Soon, 11 other dilapidated properties will be demolished, and Weyer said that she hopes they can build additional houses on some of those land parcels.

Weyer also noted what she termed the overlooked “missing middle” of the housing problem, explaining that most state support goes to lower-income families. There is a shortage of support and housing for families in a middle-income range – those making approximately $100,000 per year – as they too have been priced out of the market in much of the county. “There isn’t any good stock available in their price range that doesn’t need a lot of work,” Weyer said.

When asked if she had additional thoughts about the affordable housing issue, Weyer responded, “I was just up in Albany, talking with some of the other housing organizations, and I think everybody is trying to figure out what we can do. Whether it is a market issue, it needs intervention from government services or nonprofit agencies – it’s a crisis that needs to be addressed. Because we need to get quality, affordable, clean, safe housing into our communities.”

New construction needed

The Sullivan County Partnership for Economic Development is also involved. According to President Marc Baez, the CEP recently organized a workshop to try to interest developers with experience and financial knowledge in building new market-rate housing in the county. He said they are now actively working with one that has identified projects that have been approved but had stalled during the pandemic. That they have already been OK’d reduces the “soft” costs to get them restarted.

Many experts say the crunch of moderate-cost housing is primarily due to a lack of new construction. Gov. Kathy Hochul has noted, “We can only build our way out of this crisis.” But legislative efforts to address the problem have consistently stalled, due to fighting among the real estate industry, labor unions and tenant advocacy groups. A new bill has been introduced to establish a new state agency to help foster new developments using a mix of state funding and money to be raised in the bond market. The new agency would be empowered to partner with private companies by providing loans and subsidies. But its passage into law is at present uncertain.