Smithtown's income range revision for workforce housing could make more homes 'affordable' 

The Smithtown Town Board has revised income limits for houses and apartments in the town’s workforce housing policy, a move intended to make more homes affordable for middle-income residents.

But the impact of the change, approved last week, will be limited by the number of units that get built. Few major projects are in the development pipeline and the last big subdivisions were laid out a generation ago; the town is now nearly built out. The policy has created just 18 units of workforce housing since it was implemented in 2017.

For maximum-density projects of five or more units, the town allows developers to build 10% more units than zoning permits but requires them to set aside 10% of the units for workforce housing.

Maximum sales prices for those units are set by a formula based on household size and median income for Long Island, a figure set by the federal government on a yearly basis. The old formula set max sales price at about three times’ 130% of Area Median Income, which town officials said often resulted in prices near market rate; the revised formula sets them at about three times’ median income.

Using last year’s Area Median Income of $129,909, the maximum home price before the revision would have been about $464,425. After the revision, the maximum price is about $357,250. Rental units must be priced so that housing expenses make up no more than one-third of household gross income.

The revision also limits eligibility for owner-occupied, co-op and rental units to people at or below Area Median Income, down from 130% of that figure.

"We feel we’re on the right track and made a big dent in making these units more affordable," said Kelly Brown, a Smithtown planning department staffer who is the town’s housing rehabilitation administrator. "There are some single moms or newly married couples who are in a home or condo that they now own, which is really fantastic."

Mitch Pally, CEO of the Long Island Builders Institute, which represents developers and general contractors, said his group supported the move. "Hopefully this reduction will lead to the building of more units, either in 100% affordable projects or as a portion of market rate projects in Smithtown."

Marianne Garvin, a community development consultant who formerly led Community Development Corp. of Long Island, a nonprofit that helps administer Smithtown’s workforce housing, said the revision was a positive step but the choice to peg both ownership and rental income rates to 100% of median income was unusual. Rental options generally target people with lower incomes, and if the town "really wants to serve a certain segment of the population that is on the lower end," it could target people with incomes between 60% and 80% of Area Median Income, she said.

Projects coming to market with workforce housing units include the Lofts at Maple and Main, in downtown Smithtown, which will have six units, said Brown. Another project, by TDG Commack, will offer nine units in that hamlet.

While incomes in Smithtown tend to be higher than in Suffolk County overall, housing costs tend to be higher too. Most of Smithtown’s housing stock is single-family detached homes, almost all owner-occupied, with a median value of $486,300, according to the Census. Median monthly cost for owners with a mortgage is $3,209; gross rent is $1,793.

Town officials under Supervisor Edward Wehrheim have tried in recent years to diversify the housing stock, with zoning changes that permit multiuse building in the Long Island Innovation Park at Hauppauge and sewer projects planned or being contemplated for several hamlet downtowns that could support apartments, but these initiatives have not yet yielded new units.

James Britz, chief operating officer of Long Island Housing Partnership, another organization that helps administer the town's workforce housing, said the board's move was timely.

"House prices have skyrocketed the last few years and there’s less housing stock for people in that middle-income category who need affordable housing."

Because there are generally more applicants than workforce housing units in Smithtown, the right to buy or rent a unit is awarded by lottery. Though the lotteries have been held in the town board meeting room, they are not administered by the town but by U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development-approved agencies like the Community Development Corp. of Long Island and the Long Island Housing Partnership working with developers.

By Nicholas Spangler

nicholas.spangler@newsday.comspanglernewsday

Nicholas Spangler is a general assignment reporter and has worked at Newsday since 2010.