Affordable housing units planned for Amagansett

The East Hampton Housing Authority has begun planning a cottage-style rental apartment complex in Amagansett to provide affordable housing for the hamlet's workers.

Housing Authority executive director Katy Casey said the plan, which she noted is in the initial stages and would need a long list of approvals before the project could proceed, envisions 13 to 17 small wood-frame buildings to be constructed on a vacant 4.7-acre tract at 531 Montauk Hwy.

The complex would consist of 30 to 40 units ranging from studios to three bedrooms that would rent for about $1,000 to $2,200 per month depending on unit size and the tenant's income. She said about 20 percent of the units would be available to Section 8 applicants, making it the first multifamily housing in Amagansett for such tenants.

"There's an overwhelming need for affordable housing in the Town of East Hampton that reaches across broad income levels and age groups," Supervisor Larry Cantwell said in a telephone interview last week. "It [the project] has the potential for occupants from different income levels, so I think it has a lot of value for providing affordable housing in town."

Casey said that officials hope to start the project next year and complete it by early 2019, and that it is intended to primarily benefit middle-income earners.

"It's the middle-income people that are getting squeezed the hardest," she said.

Casey said the land is priced at about $600,000 an acre in the hamlet, where she said about 65 percent of the houses are second homes. She said first preference for the housing may be given to school employees, emergency service volunteers, current town residents and possibly veterans.

"Tradespeople and people in the service industry and home health care service industry work hard, and there's no housing stock for those people," Casey said. "There used to be builders who built modest homes, but now the real estate is so expensive they can't make that work."

Casey said funding for the estimated $18 million project would come from the New York State Homes and Community Renewal. She said the land would be purchased from its current owner, Puerto Rico-based Putnam Farm Holdings LLC.

Casey noted that creating affordable housing has become a priority for local officials throughout Suffolk County.

"I'm not sure we will ever meet the need for low-income housing, but we're trying to meet the demand for middle-income housing," she said.