East Hampton considers state modular housing program as an affordable-home solution

East Hampton is eyeing a new state modular housing program as a possible solution to a stalled town affordable housing development.

Officials are looking at the state Homes and Community Renewal’s Move-In NY program to develop Cantwell Court, a 16-lot affordable housing project on town land located less than a mile away from Town Hall off Pantigo Road. The state program provides subsidies and no-interest loans to municipalities and nonprofits to purchase and sell factory-built homes to income-eligible buyers.

Three 1,500-square-foot homes built as a part of Move-In NY’s pilot program — with three bedrooms and two bathrooms — cost roughly $250,000 each to build and install, and will be sold for less than that cost, the state said in a statement last month announcing the program’s launch. The state said it wants to help build as many as 200 “starter homes” statewide.

“A home in a $250,000 range is obviously something the folks on our [affordable homeownership] list that are next up for a single-family home could afford to get a mortgage on,” East Hampton Town Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez said during a work session meeting Tuesday.

The Cantwell Court building lots were approved by the town in 2023, but developing homes there has posed a challenge — none have been built yet. Proposals solicited earlier this year to build the 16 homes yielded prices town officials said were too expensive to sell at an affordable price to low- and moderate-income families.

Homes through Move-In NY “are deeply affordable,” said Mark Morgan-Pérez, the town’s director of housing.

The town would have to apply and win an award from the state to participate in the program.

Income requirements

Move-In NY requires the homes to be sold to families making between 70% and 130% of Long Island’s area median income, or AMI, with the average AMI of all the buyers totaling around 100% — or $214,370 for a family of four.

Subsidies will be given to low-income buyers to help them purchase homes, according to the state. The category of home, known as a “CrossMod,” must meet design guidelines approved by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which allow homebuyers to seek conventional mortgages, according to the state.

It took six months for Champion Homes, a manufactured-housing company in Oneida County, to build the three homes for the pilot program, according to the state.

The state is producing a list of prequalified manufacturers to build homes and establish base models ranging in size and design for Move-In NY awardees. Awardees should be ready to build within five months of the award being granted.

“To be able to turn around these homes in six months, again, assuming the manufacturer has the capacity to produce 16 homes in six months … it would be a real win,” Morgan-Pérez said, noting that housing development projects can take years.

'This is one option'

An attractive part of the program for town officials is that the homes look more like traditional single-family homes and less like a trailer home.

Morgan-Pérez said the town still needs to meet with the state to determine whether the Move-In NY program is a “good fit” for the town and complies with all its procurement policies and other laws.

“This is one option. It’s not the only option, but it's definitely one that we want to look into deeper and look into quickly,” Morgan-Pérez said.

The town will still move forward with issuing a second request for proposals for developing properties at Cantwell Court, with the hope of getting more affordable prices from contractors, Councilman David Lys said.

Lys added there are other lots where the town could develop Move-In NY homes.

“This might be something we see on this one project, but it could be used for years to come,” he said.

The median home sale price of homes in the Hamptons increased to $2 million during the third quarter of 2025, a 30% bump over the same stretch last year, Newsday recently reported. The increase was driven by a surge in luxury home sales. The Hamptons contains some of the most expensive median home prices in the country by ZIP code, according to a recent report.

Excluding the East End markets, the median price of a single-family home on Long Island reached an all-time high of $720,000 last month, Newsday previously reported.

East Hampton was the first Suffolk County town last year to be certified as a pro-housing community. With that certification, the town promised to continue increasing its housing stock and streamline the permitting process for multifamily and affordable housing.

The designation qualifies the town for hundreds of millions of dollars in state grant programs. The pro-housing designation does not appear as a qualification for Move-In NY.