If you believe everything you read, you would think the seated legislature just created a grant program to increase rental and affordable housing stock rentals and housing by utilizing $2 million they earmarked and budgeted for. That work of fiction was appealing, but fiction nonetheless. 

The non-fiction version is that as Chairman of the legislature, I earmarked $2 million in the 2024 budget to be used as seed money for afforable housing initiaitives, not to fully fund a bandaid-on-a-bullethole approach that satisfies campaign promises and benefits landlords,  while perpetuating underemployment and food insufficiency. 

Based on the criteria of this program, no one in the demographic the District 1 Legislator McPhillips targets as having concerns with housing/rentals would qualify for participation or benefit. 

In a two-wage earner home where each person earns $18+/hour (which is the base rate for the largest employers in the county) they would earn out of the program. Rehabbing properties that people cannot qualify to live in will help keep the youth of our county living and working here. 

We created the land bank, where District 1 Legislator McPhillips is on the Board, to save housing stock by purchasing and reselling houses. How is that not benefiting the housing stock and providing options? 

What I would propose instead of draining a non-perpetually funded program for a minimail ROI is : 

• Expand the Promise scholarship (something I created during my tenure) to 35-years-old for certificate programs and 24 for full-time students in any of the healthcare certifications or degrees SUNY Sullivan offers. With the Promise program, they stay for three years after graduation.  

 Since they are now working full-time we offer those students housing assistance using the HUD guidelines. 

We have a broad base of potential in this county. We need to encourage it, invest in it, and maximize partnerships available to us. The SUNY Reconnect program is available for adult learners 25-55 without a degree. The program covers the costs to earn a degree in fields our community, economy and local employers need. 

These initiatives solve a multitude of problems instead of just spending money with no real successful outcomes-for a headline.  

Why go this route? 

Well in a 2022 study, it was shown that people who received HUD assistance without any career advancement help were more likely to become more food insecure at a rate of 1 in 4 to a rate of 1 in 3. 

The same group also became more likely to not be able to make it from paycheck to paycheck at the same rate. Some of the biggest issues facing us and many counties in the Hudson Valley, is food insecurity, lack of affordable housing and low average wages. We can ameliorate these issues and give a much needed boost to enrollment numbers at our local community college. 

Or, we can continue down this legislature’s path and invest $2 million of your tax dollars in rehabbing a handful of rental properties with a “framework” that doesn’t address sustainability, outcomes, target areas, or additional funding and perpetuates food insecurity, under employment, and stagnates growth in fields our local economy so desperately needs.

Rob Doherty

Bethel