Garvin: More apartments make sense on LI

Marianne Garvin, a member of the Long Island Regional Economic Development Council, is president and chief executive of the Community Development Corp. of Long Island, a nonprofit organization.

For Long Island's economy to expand, we need to build more multifamily rental housing. This was one of the conclusions of a public debate over the last several months, facilitated by the Long Island Regional Economic Development Council, that culminated in Nassau and Suffolk counties' five-year strategic plan.

The Island's housing stock is not sufficiently diverse to meet the needs of the current population, nor the population predicted for the future. Empty-nesters and young people seek smaller places to live, at all price points.

Avalon Rockville Centre, built at 50 units to the acre, offers a two-bedroom apartment rental for $3,300 a month. It's in high demand because people want choices beyond single-family houses. Given the standard housing-cost formula -- around 30 percent of a family's income should go to rent or a mortgage -- that rent is easily affordable to a household earning $132,000.

An affordable rent for people with incomes of $38,000 to $53,000 would be $950 to $1,325. But it's very difficult to find decent rentals at this rate on Long Island.

While market-rate and luxury rental housing can be built without public dollars, housing at lower prices needs public subsidies to be both profitable for developers and affordable for tenants. The public sector can entice developers to build and manage affordable workforce housing by forming partnerships with the private sector. Offering federal tax credits, which are sold to private corporations such as financial institutions, brings in private capital as equity -- not debt -- thereby reducing the operating expenses of the development. Another way operating costs are lowered is by the public investment of low-interest loans.

In exchange for these public incentives, the developer's profit is regulated by law and monitored by the IRS. This ensures that the rent is affordable to people earning less than 50 percent of Long Island's median income of $107,000. To support local services, the rents cover an operating budget that includes property taxes.

Businesses currently on Long Island, as well as the businesses we seek to attract here, ask about housing options for their employees. Having a rental housing stock of less than 20 percent -- when 35 percent is closer to the norm, as it is in Westchester County, for example -- is often a negative. This is especially so for employers of young people, many of whom are drawn to walkable communities, which need high density to be viable. Having housing that is diverse and affordable to families at all income levels is critical. Long Island can meet both these needs by encouraging high-density rental housing.

While there's still some "not in my backyard" sentiment when it comes to multifamily rental housing, the public's perspective is beginning to change -- particularly when developers build on parcels that are blighting neighborhoods. That's why the high-density development in Rockville Centre was approved. In these instances the local residents welcome revitalization. It lifts up the neighborhood and increases quality of life -- not to mention the property values of the community.

To preserve the character of our single-family neighborhoods, another strategy is to build high-density multifamily housing around transit hubs, like the Ronkonkoma train station, or near downtowns where the increased population would support local businesses.

Revitalization also puts our construction industry back to work, providing an additional economic boost.

Our Island is changing. Over the past 50 years, we've evolved from being a bedroom community where our residents commuted to the city, to a place where 80 percent of workers are employed by businesses on the Island. Our commercial buildings are aging and many are vacant. To be a vital and vibrant place for many years -- for our children and their children -- we need to invest public dollars in a way that attracts significant private investment.

Long Island is recognizing that change is not a bad thing. By lifting communities up, everyone benefits.