Approve East End worker housing plan

As the region's housing crisis deepens, the need for new, innovative ideas grows.

That's especially true on the East End, where the housing stock is extraordinarily limited, and where it's increasingly difficult for workers to afford whatever might be available.

In East Hampton, magazine publisher Kirby Marcantonio has pitched building 47 condominiums on a vacant lot on Pantigo Road — units that could cost $800,000 each.

Not quite affordable. 

But that's where Marcantonio's resourcefulness comes in.

He's suggesting that local businesses could buy the units, and then rent them to employees, with caps on tenant income and rents up to $3,500 a month for a three-bedroom. 

It's not a new suggestion. Companies have tried something similar in the past and the Long Island Housing Partnership runs an Employer Assisted Housing Program, in which companies contribute a certain amount to match government funding to help workers buy a home. Across the East End, farms, restaurants and even large institutions like Stony Brook Medicine are also attempting various forms of employee housing, with varying levels of success. 

But at a time when housing and broader affordability concerns have become such critical linchpins, it's worth breathing new life into an old idea. Nonetheless, as developers and local officials move forward, there are legitimate concerns.

Pending legislation in East Hampton Town would allow up to 60 units of employer-sponsored housing, with regulations built in that require properties to be managed by a third party and allow tenants to stay for six months even after leaving employment. It's a smart proposal that seems to have the right regulations and caveats built into it. But advocates raise reasonable questions, especially regarding whether the situation sets up a problematic web for workers, who would depend upon their employers for both their jobs and the roofs over their heads. It could create, as one advocate suggested in a Newsday news story, a "power imbalance where workers are less likely to come forward about unlawful conditions." 

Such questions can be addressed by creating a formal, regulated framework for employer-assisted housing — one that's far superior than any informal, unregulated setups that already exist or would fill the void in the future if a town like East Hampton does nothing. Just as with other types of housing across the Island, such as accessory dwelling units and basement apartments, establishing guidelines to regulate new housing arrangements can assure potential renters, homebuyers and the overall community that the housing is safe and lawful.   

East Hampton officials should approve the legislation, and advance the Pantigo Road development while examining best practices in other jurisdictions. This could be a model for other towns on the Island as well.  

Employer-assisted housing endeavors won't come close to tackling the Island's widespread housing and affordability crisis. A 2025 Regional Plan Association report estimates that East Hampton alone will need 5,459 more housing units by 2040, while the region will need more than 250,000.

But we must start somewhere. And these are steps worth taking.