Changing the affordable housing narrative

MILLERTON — The Millerton-North East working group of the Tri-Town Coalition (TTC) housing group discussed how to change the conversation about affordable housing when it met Tuesday evening, Jan. 11, via Zoom. It drew members as well as town and village residents.

Though he acknowledged the difficulties in changing how people perceive affordable housing, group leader Sam Busselle encouraged members to share what changing the narrative means to them and how they might approach doing so.

In response to one suggestion of better branding, Busselle agreed selling a more attractive message and more appealing brand will be key in the next few months. A community conversation is planned for later this year.

Millerton resident Claire Owens said to her, changing the narrative means understanding the communities that need accessible housing, adding those communities are “not the stereotypical [ones] that we all have in our mind.”

Rather, she said, they may include young families, educators and young people recently out of school.

“It’s people like every single one of us that really need accessible housing because not of necessarily our circumstances but because of the environment around us,” Owens said.

In thinking about its directive, Millerton resident Eliot Ramos said she considered how the group can take its narrative and make it positive, rather than make people feel stigmatized.

“In terms of being positive and thinking futuristically, I know we can already say we care because we’re here, we’re trying to do something about a very serious issue,” Ramos said.

Sharing what she’s read recently on the subject, Ramos spoke about people joining email lists for updates on new rentals available in their communities.

She also mentioned a piece she read written by the head of the Cambridge Housing Authority in Massachusetts to solve the country’s housing problem. It was recommended to remove as much private housing stock as possible out of the hands of for-profit-owners and turn it over to nonprofit and public owners.

Ramos said she read municipalities also buy up housing stock to help control local rental prices, and suggested that could be an idea for this area.

Busselle mentioned the TTC’s working group has been working with the North East Zoning Review Committee to observe local zoning regulations and make contributions that could benefit those in need of affordable housing.

As a way to alter the narrative, he said the TTC working group could think about approaching segments of the population (such as farmers) to see what kind of zoning they think is necessary to encourage more local affordable housing, specific to their community.

While on the subject of farmers and farmland, Millerton Village Trustee Matthew Hartzog, there as a member of the working group, mentioned a number of farm parcels in the village that have been broken up for land conservancy. He wondered if the TTC could provide some kind of covenant, carve out of a 5-acre parcel and potentially use a half-acre parcel for future affordable housing.

While she liked the idea, Webutuck teacher and group member Monica Baker asked how the group would insure and maintain an acceptable quality of life for residents living there.